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PRELIMINARIES OF 

CONCORD FIGHT 



READ BEFORE THE 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, 1886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 

THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . President. 
SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. . . . \y.,,p,,,,ac„ts. 
THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD j 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 

Irin REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRr^NCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



^.Hou3e.on L^uigion Road. 



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CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



PRELIMINARIES OF 

CONCORD FIGHT 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN. 



RECEIVED 'V* 

VIAR 9 " 1904 



fff?10D5CM^ 



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Preliminaries of Concord Fight 



" A BOUT this time," as the Old Farmers' Almanac used 
^~^ to say, "about this time look for a flood" of more or 
less inaccurate stories, (generally more rather than less) about 
the 1 9th of April 1775. I do not aspire to add anything to 
the volume of this literary flood. It is not necessary here 
in Concord. The popular impression of the events of 
that day appears to be that they were in a certain sense and 
to a great extent accidental; that they might have taken 
place anywhere else just as well ; that there was no particu- 
lar reason why Concord Fight might not just as well have 
taken place at Rehoboth if only Gen. Gage had taken the 
whim to send his little body of regulars in that direction 
instead of this. 

Perhaps a brief survey of the six months that immedi- 
ately preceded that historic day may serve to hold your in- 
terest for a few minutes, for I have found that there is less 
known about that period of six months by ordinarily well 
instructed Americans, than about any other similar period 
in the history of the great Revolution. And yet it was 
what was done in those six months that made the Ameri- 
can Revolution possible, and made Concord Fight inevi- 
table. 

We will take for a starting point the first Provincial 
Congress, which was called to meet at Concord on Tues- 
day, Oct. II, 1774, and we will take for granted all that 



Preliminaries of 



had occurred before. This Congress was made up of dele- 
gates that had been duly chosen by the different Towns of 
the Province in exactly the same manner as the Repre- 
sentatives to the General Court were chosen. Gen. 
Gage, as Governor of the Province, was the only authority 
that could call the General Court together, and he could pro- 
rogue it also at his own discretion. But he was politic 
enough not to let the Representatives of his uneasy people 
get together under his sanction to devise means of escaping 
or of circumventing his authority, and so the Great and 
General Court was practically suspended. The people 
were not used to this system of repression. They believed 
then, what they asserted in their Declaration of Independ- 
ence nearly two years later, that "governments derive their 
just power from the consent of the governed ;" in fact they 
had said as much, four years before, when in their repre- 
sentations made to the Ministry of Britain in the matter of 
the Boston Massacre, they had declared that the rights of 
the King were not antagonistic to those of the people, and 
that "the service of the people is the service of the King." 
That was why this "Congress" was convoked, — that 
there might be a body representative of the people and 
acting by their authority. Bodies of regularly chosen dele- 
gates had indeed convened before, but they were called on 
special occasions, for consultation merely on some particu- 
lar subject, and without pretending to any power of legis- 
lation. These bodies had been always styled Conventions ; 
this new body was called as a Congress, and the difference 
in its character from the character of all previous repre- 
sentative assemblies in the Province, was subtly conveyed 
by the adoption of this distinctive name. In its political 
sense the word Congress was then only used to denote an 



Concord Fight. 



assemblage of envoys or plenipotentiaries representing 
sovereign powers, or perhaps of sovereigns tliemselves, 
charged with the consideration only of matters of the 
gravest importance, such as the making of treaties, the 
forming of alliances, the delimitation of territory, or the 
like, and the very assumption of this high sounding term 
by the representatives of a half rebellious and apparently 
wholly impotent little Province had in it something of de- 
fiance, mixed with a great deal of self assurance. To the 
Provincial Governor and to the power that stood behind 
him in Great Britain this assumption appeared ridiculous 
as well as impudent. History sometimes repeats itself: — 
the descendants of the men who called this Congress and 
of those who sat in it, are mocking today [1899] ^^e ri- 
diculousness and the impudence of Aguinaldo and his 
Constituent Assembly, just as Britain mocked the folly 
and impudence of the Yankee patriots just one hundred 
and twenty-five years ago, — "and thus the whirligig of 
Time brings about his revenges." 

When this First Congress was convoked, the Province 
was practically under martial law ; or at least Boston was 
so, and the country towns, although no soldiers were 
quartered in them, were made to feel in many ways that 
they were virtually in the condition of a subjugated terri- 
tory. Trade was dead ; farmers could find no market for 
their produce, there was but little money in circulation, 
and even such small domestic manufactures as existed were 
almost wholly suspended. Gen. Gage was acting Govern- 
or, and by virtue of that office was legally in command of 
the Provincial Militia as well as of the Regular troops. 
So, as far as possible, he had disarmed the Militia, and had 
taken possession of all the ammunition belonging to the 



Preliminaries of 



Province that he could lay hands upon. The castle In 
Boston harbor was fully manned with "regulars ;" two regi- 
ments were In the town Itself, and a strong earth-work on 
Boston Neck guarded the only approach to the town on the 
landward side, while the ferries to Cambridge and Charles- 
town were not only entirely In the hands of the Governor, 
but private boats also, crossing the river, were under the 
most rigorous supervision, even by day, and were not al- 
lowed to ply at all by night. 

As has been said, the General Court had been shorn of 
its power, and could only be convoked by the Governor. 
On the first of September 1774, he sent out precepts to 
the several towns and districts of the Province, command- 
ing the inhabitants to choose Representatives to a Great 
and General Court to be convened at Salem on the fifth 
of October. The "Congress" had been called to meet at 
Concord on the eleventh of the same month, and many, 
if not most, of the Towns had already chosen their Dele- 
gates. Plainly it was the Intention of Gov. Gage to fore- 
stall the action of the Congress by bringing together the 
legitimate and recognized legislative assembly, over the 
actions of which he could possibly have some control ; some 
conflict of authority, — or rather some difference of opinion 
and action, for he was not disposed to grant much author- 
ity to either of these two assemblies, — might arise, and 
here seemed to be a chance to set the patriots by the ears 
with each other. At any rate, with the regular legislature 
in session, the other assembly would naturally have but 
little effect and thus its fangs would be drawn. It was a 
good bluff, but he weakened on the next raise ; for when 
many of the Towns utterly refused to send any Repre- 
sentative at all to the General Court, and most of those 



Concord Fight. ^ 



who did vote to send, chose the very same men that they 
had already chosen as Delegates to the Congress, Gov. 
Gage "laid down," and on the twenty-eighth of September 
issued a proclamation, announcing that no session of the 
General Court would be held, and discharging the members 
from their attendance. He gave as his reasons for this 
step, the many tumults and disorders that had taken place 
since the issuing of his writs of the first of September, the 
extraordinary resolves which had been passed in many of 
the Counties, the instructions which had been given to their 
Representatives by Boston and other towns, and the gener- 
ally disordered and unhappy state of the Province. 

This proclamation notwithstanding, nearly a hundred of 
the duly elected Representatives assembled at Salem on 
the fifth of October, and awaited until the next day the 
attendance of the Governor to administer the usual and re- 
quired oaths ; but that functionary not appearing, the 
members present resolved themselves into a "Convention" 
of which they elected John Hancock President and Benj. 
Lincoln Secretary. This Convention adopted a preamble 
and series of resolutions, setting forth, that the Governor 
having once called a session of the General Court, had no 
right, under the charter, to prevent its meeting, and that 
his right to prorogue, adjourn or to dissolve that body did 
not begin until it should have met and convened. The 
second resolve was to the effect that the tumults and dis- 
orders of which the Governor had spoken were not the 
fault of the people, who had always manifested the greatest 
aversion to such things, but were to be laid to the Govern- 
ment's repeated attempts to supersede popular rule by 
military force, and that His Excellency's remarks upon 
that point were "highly injurious and unkind." A third 



6 Preliminaries of ; 

resolve was that the conduct of the Governor in issuing 
his proclamation for discharging the General Court at so 
short notice was disrespectful to the Province, and in op- 
position to that reconciliation with Great Britain that was 
the ardent desire of all the people of the Colonies. The 
sting at the end of the lash was in the final resolution, 
which set forth that the very reasons alleged by His Ex- 
cellency for prohibiting the assembly of the constitutional 
legislature were those that in all good governments had 
always called for such assembly, and his action in this par- 
ticular fully proved his disaffection toward the Province. 
The Convention then voted to "resolve itself into a Pro- 
vincial Congress, to be joined by such other persons as 
have been or shall be chosen for such purpose." As such 
Congress, it met the next day at Salem and organized by 
the choice of John Hancock as Chairman and Benj. Lin- 
coln as Clerk, the same persons who had been chosen 
President and Secretary of the Convention two days before. 
Then they "voted to adjourn to the Court House at Con- 
cord, there to meet on Tuesday next," Oct. ii. 

For "strict constructionists," like these men, this seems 
to have been something of an unwarrantable proceeding ; 
for this was not the body that had been called to meet at 
Concord on that day, and it was little short of usurpation 
for it to declare itself the Congress, and assume to make 
the previously arranged meeting of the regular body 
merely an adjournment of itself. So when the Congress 
got together at Concord, to the number of nearly three 
hundred delegates, its first proceeding was to ignore the 
action of the self-styled Congress at Salem, and to proceed 
to elect officers for itself. They chose the same men indeed, 
but they changed their titles from Chairman and Clerk to 



Concord Fight. 7 

President and Secretary, I have elaborated this point a little, 
because the history makers all say that the Provincial Con- 
gress met first at Salem and then adjourned to Concord, 
which is not a true statement of the case. The Salem body 
was a Provincial Congress, not because they had been elected 
as such, but merely because they so styled themselves of 
their own motion. If they had called themselves the Parlia- 
ment of England, that would not have made them so, 
but it would have been no more ultra vires. 

The Congress remained in session at Concord for four 
days. Its principal business during these four days was the 
drafting of an address to the Governor, which was 
adopted, with only one dissentient vote, and a Committee 
was appointed to present personally to that official an attest- 
ed copy of the same. The petition began by declaring 
that the want of a General Assembly in the disturbed state 
of the Country, had rendered it indispensably necessary 
that the wisdom of the Province should in some 
way be brought together to provide for the public safety. 
It declares as a truism that the sole end of government is 
the protection and security of the people, and deprecates 
the use of military and repressive measures "against a 
people whose love of order, attachment to Britain and 
loyalty to their Prince have ever been truly exemplary." 
The Port Bill, the acts for altering the charter, the gather- 
ing of troops in Boston and the fortification of that town, 
are pointed out as the principal grievances, submission to 
which on the part of the people would be evidence of their 
insanity. Particularly the Congress entreats His Excellency 
"to remove that brand of contention, the fortress at the 
entrance of Boston," and that the pass (that is to say Bos- 
ton Neck) be restored to its natural condition. 



Preliminaries of 



The Hon. Harrison Gray was at that time Treasurer 
and Receiver General of the Province, and his adherence to 
the loyaHst side of the dispute was matter of pubhc knowl- 
edge, so it was plainly for the interest of the popular party 
that no more of the public funds should get into his hands. 
To secure that end a resolution was passed, calling upon 
all constables and collectors of taxes and sheriffs who had 
any public money in hand, or who should thereafter col- 
lect any, to hold it until some person should be chosen by 
the Congress to receive it. The Congress adjourned on 
Friday, to come together again at Cambridge on the next 
Monday, Oct. 17. Gov. Gage returned at once his answer 
to the communication that had been sent him, and it is 
only fair to say that it was a terse, crisp and statesman-like 
document. He says quietly that the unusual warlike pre- 
parations that were going on in the country made it an act 
of duty for him to erect what they had called a fortress, 
but he adds a little grimly that this fortification "unless an- 
noyed will annoy nobody." He points out further, that in 
assembling as they had done, they are themselves subvert- 
ing their own charter, and acting in direct violation of their 
constitution, but he feels it his duty in spite of the irregul- 
ar character of their application to him, to warn them of 
the rocks they are upon, and to require them to desist from 
further unlawful proceedings. 

Of course this preliminary fencing amounted to nothing, 
and was not meant to amount to anything. The Provin- 
cials did not expect to make the Governor tear down his 
ramparts or remove his troops, nor did the Governor expect 
to scare the Congress into immediate dissolution. Both 
parties knew well that the matter had long passed that pos- 
sibility, and that the "certain issue strokes must arbitrate." 



Concord Fight. g 

But the correspondence served the purpose for which 
It was intended, by defining the position of the antagonists. 
It was like the formalities preceding a duel, the little ex- 
change of courtesies that gives to such affairs a certain dig- 
nity and seriousness. Henceforth talk would be useless, 
and work would be necessary for both parties. 

From this until the close of the session, the proceedings 
of the Congress were for the most part in secret session. 
Committees were appointed to inquire into the state and 
operations of the army ; to consider what is necessary to be 
now done for the defence of the Province ; to determine 
what quantity of powder and ordnance stores it will be 
necessary to procure, and for other such investigations and 
actions in the interest of peace. The persons who had 
acted as Mandamus Councillors or who had accepted any 
other position under the late act of Parliament changing the 
charter of the Province, were roundly denounced, and 
unless they should make public acknowledgment, in print, 
of their wrong doings, and should also at once renounce 
their commissions, it was ordered that their names be 
published and entered upon the records of their several 
Towns as rebels against the State. Another of the "dear- 
est foes" of free institutions seems to have been T^^, which 
the Congress with ludicrous vehemence denounces "as the 
baneful vehicle of a corrupted and venal administration," and 
the Towns were requested to cause the names of such of 
their inhabitants as should sell or use the article to be 
posted in some public place. A resolution to the effect 
that while we are endeavoring to preserve ourselves from 
slavery, we ought also to take into our consideration the 
state and circumstances of the Negro slaves in the Prov- 
ince, came near proving a firebrand in the Congress, but 



T o Preliminaries of 

after some heated discussion it was voted "that the matter 
now subside." Our grandfathers found the Negro question 
a very touchy subject to handle one hundred and twenty- 
five years ago, as their sons did later. Thanksgiving day 
was a New England institution, but it seemed hardly prob- 
able that Gov. Gage would appoint one, so the Congress 
took even that comparatively trifling matter in hand and 
issued their proclamation to that effect, calling upon the 
people on the day appointed, to pray especially for the 
restoration of harmony between the Colonies and Britain, 
"So that we may again rejoice in the smiles of our sovereign, 
. . . and our privileges shall be handed down entire to 
posterity under the Protestant succession in the illustrious 
house of Hanover." In view of their other proceedings it 
may be permitted to a sceptical descendant of two of the 
members of this Congress to suggest that there is a strongly 
Pecksniffian flavor to this pious document. 

But the most important action of the Congress was in re- 
lation to military matters. The report of the Committee 
of Defence and Safety sets forth in a preamble the various 
oppressive acts of the Governor, particularly his fortifica- 
tion of Boston against the Province; his invasion of private 
property by the seizure of arms, ammunition, and ordnance 
stores that had been provided at public expense for the use 
of the Province, and "at the same time having neglected 
and altogether disregarded the assurances he had received 
of the pacific disposition of the inhabitants of the Province." 
(We may perhaps be permitted to say, as a note or gloss on 
this passage, that Gen. Gage might well have remembered, 
and doubtless did remember, for "the proverb is somewhat 
musty," that actions speak louder than words. Really it looks 
like another case of protesting too much.) However, the pre- 



Concord Fight. 



1 1 



amble goes on in the same vein to declare that "the Pro- 
vince has not the least design of attacking, annoying or 
molesting His Majesty's troops, but will consider and treat 
every attempt of the kind, as well as all measures tending 
to prevent a reconciliation between Britain and the Colonies, 
as the highest degree of enmity to the Province." It was 
not then, as it is not now, a habit of Britain to accept any 
"reconciliation" that is accompanied by a threat, and that 
fact was as well known to the members of the Congress as 
it is to all the world today. 

But having waved the olive branch in this ostentatious 
manner, they proceeded to get ready for the rejection that 
they perfectly well knew it would meet. So a Committee 
of Safety was provided for, to keep watch of any hostile 
movements, any five members of which committee — not 
more than one of such five to be an inhabitant of Boston, — 
should have power to alarm, muster, and cause to be as- 
sembled, whenever and wherever they should think proper, 
the armed militia of the Province ; and to make provision 
for their support while so assembled and until their return 
to their homes. The Committee was also directed to pur- 
chase without delay, cannon, small arms, ammunition and 
stores to the value of ^^20,837 for their armament, to be 
deposited in such secure places as said Committee of Safety 
shall direct. Provision was also made for the militia when 
so called out, and company and regimental officers were 
directed to organize their soldiers and put them through a 
course of drill and instruction at once. There General 
Officers and five Commissaries were also appointed ; direc- 
tions were given for the care and safety of such arms as the 
Province still possessed ; and the system of minor tactics 
under which the troops should be drilled was settled upon 



Preliminaries of 



Henry Gardner of Stow was chosen Receiver General, 
and a report of the doings of the Congress was ordered 
to be transmitted to the General Congress of the Colonies. 
Finally a carefully worded statement of the action of this 
Congress, — with judicious omissions — was made up for 
publication in the newspapers, and a parting salute to Gov. 
Gage was prepared, informing him, perhaps unnecessarily, 
that "our constituents do not expect that in the execution of 
the important trust which they have reposed in us, we 
should be guided by your advice," and in shooting this 
Parthian arrow at the Governor, they further assured him 
that "we shall not fail in our duty to our country, and 
loyalty to our King, nor in a proper respect to Your Excel- 
lency," a remark that, all things considered, appears just a 
little like sarcasm. 

On the 29th of October the Congress adjourned to the 
23rd of the next month. The Continental Congress at 
Philadelphia had been in session at the same time, from 
Oct. 5 to Oct. 26, and James Bowdoin, Thomas Gush- 
ing, Robert Treat Paine, and John and Samuel Adams, 
who had been members of that body, were at once by spe- 
cial vote, invited to attend the meeting of this, which they 
accordingly did, and communicated the proceedings in 
which they had taken part. Delegates were also chosen to 
attend a new Continental Congress to be held in May. 
With the exception that the name of John Hancock 
was subsituted for that of James Bowdoin this delegation 
was not changed. 

This present session of the Provincial Congress, which 
lasted until Dec. 10, was not so sensational as the previous 
one, being in large part devoted to such ordinary legisla- 
tion as had usually been the work of the General Court. 



Concord Fight. j -, 

For instance, the Baptists of Massachusetts, being legally 
at some disadvantages in comparison with their Calvinistic 
Congregational neighbors, thought this was a good time 
to put in their petition for civil and religious liberty ; and 
they fared just as well as the Negro slaves had fared at 
the previous session, — perhaps a trifle better, — for while 
the darkies had been allowed to "subside", the Baptists 
were quietly recommended, (practically) to call again some 
time when we are not quite so busy, and so bowed out 
with civil words. An address to the clergy was adopted, 
asking them to advise their flocks to abide by the resolu- 
tions of the Congress; provision was made for the immedi- 
ate taking of a census of the inhabitants, imports, exports 
and manufactures of the Province ; an address to the people 
was published, recommending them "to be particularly care- 
ful strictly to execute the plans of the Continental and Pro- 
vincial Congresses ;" warning them of the danger of losing 
their charter rights ; recommending the towns to see to it 
that their militia should at once be fully armed, equipped, 
instructed, and provided with ammunition ; and declaring the 
determination of the Representatives, "with the utmost 
cheerfulness, to stand or fall with the liberties of America." 
A report was also adopted strongly recommending the great- 
est possible increase in the raising of wool, hemp and flax 
and the establishment of domestic manufactures, especially 
of nails, steel, fire arms, saltpetre, gunpowder, salt, buttons, 
cloth, hosiery and the like. These good people were all 
believers in predestination, and they meant to be ready 
when the predestined should happen, 

A second Provincial Congress convened at Cambridge 
on Feb i, 1775, not difi^erlng greatly from the first one in 
■personnel^ and, almost as a matter of course, John Han- 



1 4 Preliminaries of 

cock and Benjamin Lincoln were chosen President and Sec- 
retary. After the merely formal ceremonies of organization, 
the first thing done was to pass a resolve "That all the de- 
bates and resolutions ot this Congress be kept an entire se- 
cret, unless their special leave be first had for disclosing 
the same." Representations having been made that certain 
persons were selling timber, canvas, carts, tools, and the like 
to the British army in Boston, a resolution was adopted 
that the persons who were engaged in this kind of business 
should "be deemed inveterate enemies to America, and 
ought to be prevented and opposed by all reasonable means 
whatever." This was to prevent "aid and comfort to the 
enemy," but a companion resolution prohibiting the sale of 
straw, on the ground that, "it appears to this Congress 
that large quantities of straw will be wanted by the people of 
this Province," looks to the almost certain expectation that 
hostihties in the field were to come very soon, — before an- 
other harvest time at latest. 

Five General Officers were appointed to take command 
of the provincial soldiers when they shall be called out, 
"effectually to oppose and resist such attempt or attempts 
as shall be made for carrying into execution by force an act 
of the British Parliament for the better regulating the gov- 
ernment of the Province of the Massachusetts, or another 
act of said Parliament entitled an act for the better admin- 
istration of justice or for the suppression of riots and tu- 
mults in said Province." Committees were appointed to 
confer with the neighboring Colonies and with Quebec, with 
the view of enlisting their aid and sympathy, or at any rate 
of finding out how far they could be relied upon ; some 
minor changes were made in the organization of the mill- 



Concord Fight. 



15 



tia ; and an address to the people and a statement for the 
newspapers were drawn up and ordered to be printed. 

The annual spring Fast Day did not escape attention, 
and a formal proclamation for such an observance was is- 
sued. Obviously they regarded His Majesty George the 
Third as not yet past the praying for, since one of the spe- 
cially mentioned objects of supplication was that "the di- 
vine blessing may rest upon George the Third, our rightful 
King, and upon all the Royal Family, that they may be 
great and lasting blessings to the world." It is almost pa- 
thetic to notice this curious and doubtless sincere loyalty 
to the person of the King, that so constantly exhibits itself 
in even the most rebellious documents of that period. The 
Colonists were apparently convinced that their troubles were 
due to the Ministry and Parliament, rather than to the 
King, v/ho was their friend, and who, if he could have his 
own way and could get rid of the crowd of selfish politi- 
cians that surrounded him, would use all the influence of 
the Throne to remove the difficulties of his faithful New 
England friends and subjects. And all the while the Col- 
onies had no more bitter or more persistent enemy than 
this same King. As long ago as when, sorely against his 
will, he had signed the bill repealing the Stamp Act, says 
Sir George Trevelyan, "he looked upon the conciliation of 
America which his ministers had effected, as an act of inex- 
piable disloyalty to the Crown," and in every act of op- 
pression that followed, even until the very close of the 
war, the hand of the King was plainly manifest. 

On Tuesday the 22d of March, 1775, the Congress 
came together again at Concord, and sat until the 15th of 
April, occupying itself chiefly with matters of detail as to 
the arming and discipline of the militia, which they now 



J 5 Preliminaries of 



speak of, without circumlocution, as the army of this Prov- 
ince. A body of Articles of War, 53 in number, was 
drawn up, and it may be noticed as strongly characteristic 
of the spirit of the time, that the first of these articles 
made it obligatory on all officers and soldiers "diligently to 
frequent divine service and sermon," and denounced penal- 
ties of fine and imprisonment for such as should disobey 
this rule. The second article was like unto it, for it prohib- 
ited all oaths and execrations, under similar penalties, — four 
shillings per cuss being the prescribed tariff for commis- 
sioned officers, with a "sliding scale" downward for sergeants 
and smaller fry. All these 53 articles, which deal with the 
conduct of soldiers in camp or on the march, the establish- 
ment of Courts Martial, the precedence of officers, and the 
like, show plainly that the Congress had fully determined 
upon war, and were making their preparations for it with 
feverish energy. That the great body of the people looked 
as yet tor separation from the mother country is perhaps not 
to be said. I think it probable indeed that if the leaders 
had avowed their intention to force such a separation, they 
would have frightened off a large part of the community. 
But I think also that it can not be doubted that this inten- 
tion was fully formed in the minds of the leading men. It 
is not even imaginable that men like Hancock, Lincoln, 
Gardner, the Adamses and the rest should even have dreamed 
that they could frighten off the power of Britain by a show 
of force, or that having had recourse to force they could 
ever restore the status quo, or, as it was popularly expressed, 
regain their charter rights. They knew then, exactly as 
well as they knew fifteen months later when the formal 
Declaration of Independence was made, that the result of 
the warlike preparation they were making would be either 



Concord Fight. ly 



national independence or complete subjugation. Success 
would mean the first; failure would mean the entire loss of 
any political status whatsoever, except such as should be 
granted to the Colonies by the conquering mother country. 

It is to be noted that by this time all protestations of loy- 
alty to Great Britain had ceased, and that in the entire pro- 
ceedings of this second session of the second Congress, the 
only expression that had even the faintest semblance of de- 
votion to the King or to the old order in any way, was an 
incidental reference to George Third as "our rightful sov- 
ereign." War was the buisness of the day, and letters were 
drafted, and sent to the other New England Colonies by 
the hand of delegates who were commissioned to seek their 
aid. An address was also sent to the Chiefs of the Mohawk 
Indians, and the other Five Nations in Canada, and it was 
voted to accept the aid of certain Massachusetts Indians, and 
to furnish them with blankets, etc. These Indians were ten- 
dered the thanks of the Congress in a letter addressed to 
"our good brothers Jehoiakin Mothskinand others, Indians 
of Stockbridge." Resolutions were adopted with regard to 
a communication received from the County of Bristol, where 
Colonel Gilbert, a prominent Tory, had been making him- 
self particularly obnoxious, that his conduct was such as 
might have been expected of him, since he was "an invet- 
erate enemy to his country, to reason, justice and the com- 
mon rights of mankind," but at the same time the Con- 
gress would not advise "any measures either with respect to 
him and his bandits, or to the King's troops, that might 
plausibly be interpreted as a commencement of hostilities." 

One Ditson, a farmer from Billerica, had been, but a few 
days before, detected in trying to buy a musket from a 
British soldier in Boston, and had been tarred and feathered 



Preliminaries of 



therefor by the soldier's companions, and now came 
through the Committee of Safety of his own town, to 
lay his complaint before the Congress, the General in 
ct)mmand of the troops having declined to give him 
any satisfaction. The Congress could do nothing except 
to express a "humble hope, under providence, that the 
time is fast approaching when this Colony and Conti- 
nent will have justice done them, in a way consistent 
with the dignity of freemen, on such wicked destroyers of 
the natural and constitutional rights of Americans." This 
is all very well, but an unprejudiced observer, at this dis- 
tance of time can not afford to waste a great deal of sym.pa- 
thy on the patriotic Ditson, who, at his very best, must 
have been a tremendous fool to get himself into such a scrape. 
What would be likely to happen even now to a patriotic 
Filipino who should be caught trying to buy the rifle of a 
United States Soldier at Manila.'' We should perhaps in 
such a case not feel greatly impressed with "the natural and 
constitutional rights" of Filipinos. 

On the fifteenth of April the Congress adjourned to 
meet again on the tenth of May. The fixing of this 
date for re-assembling, and the fact that the Congress had 
voted that in case the Governor, (General Gage) should 
legally issue his precepts, calling the General Court to 
meet at its regular time, the last Wednesday in May, the 
Towns should obey such precepts, are enough to show that 
the leaders of the people did not expect an actual outbreak 
of war just at present. Indeed, they were by no means 
ready for it, and every day of delay, within reasonable limits, 
was to their advantage. 

General Gage had been re-inforced during the winter, 
but there were now no more soldiers on the way to him. 



Concord Fight. i g 

He was as strong as he would be, and really would only be- 
come weaker daily, for there was a certain constant decrease 
of his force by illness and death, — and above all by deser- 
tion. He had in a compact body, in Boston, with no out- 
posts, a force of more than 10,000 men, besides a couple of 
men-of-war in the harbor. His land force was enough, if 
well handled, to hold the Province in complete subjection. 
His soldiers were well disciplined, well fed and well 
clothed, and while some of them were not experienced and 
hardened troops, most of the latest arrived regiments were 
fresh from European battle fields. The only things he could 
gain by delay were a better knowledge of the plans of the 
patriots, and a better acquaintance with the topography of 
the country where he was to fight. He knew that he would 
be expected by the authorities at home to attack, soon and 
effectively, but there seemed to be no one for him to 
attack. No army had been gathered ; there was not a 
camp or a fort or a blockhouse to be seen in the whole 
country round about; people were going on about their 
business very much as usual, and no one appeared to be 
drawn away from the farms or the workshops. His spies, 
indeed, found here and there occasional little companies, 
perhaps only squads, of countrymen awkwardly performing 
some of the simpler military evolutions, but they found 
also that such military evolutions did not last long at a 
time, and that these quasi soldiers were after all only a few 
Reubens and Jothams, who broke ranks when it came time 
to milk the cows and do up the chores, and became merely 
undistinguishable fractions of the community. An army 
and soldiers and drums and camps and all that sort of 
thing, the pomp and circumstance of glorious war, he could 
understand; but this phantom soldiery, that faded as he 



Preliminaries of 



looked at it, like the baseless fabric of a vision, puzzled 
and annoyed him. He heard, of course, of all the pro- 
ceedings of the Provincial Congress, as they occured, in 
spite of the formality of secret sessions, although, after the 
first session in October, 1774, that body took no notice of 
him and sent him no communications. It was perhaps 
quite natural that he should think the doings of Congress 
to be largely in the nature of a bluff, or rather of the 
grumblings of a puny and impotent antagonist, like the 
squealing of a rat in a trap. So he fell into the error of 
underestimating his antagonists, and omitted to make any 
proper disposition of his forces, or apparently to take any 
military steps whatever, except to strengthen his fortifica- 
tion on Boston Neck. It is easy for the veriest tyro in 
military affairs to see, from this distance, how, with the 
force he had in hand, he could have given an early and 
decisive check to the incipient rebellion, for in such great 
movements a check at the outset is almost always decisive. 
While the Provincial Congress had been engaged in the 
transactions of which we have spoken, the Committee of 
Safety appointed by its authority had been unceasingly 
busy. Their very first vote, after the merely formal 
matter of organizing their membership, on Nov. 2, 1774, 
was for the procuring of a quantity of pork, flour, rice and 
pease, to be deposited partly at Worcester and partly at 
Concord. A fortnight later, it was voted to procure seven 
large cannon, and to get them out of Boston to some place 
in the country. At the next meeting the Committee on 
Supplies were directed to procure spades, shovels, bill- 
hooks, pickaxes, iron pots, wooden mess bowls, cartridge 
paper, armorers' tools, etc., etc. An order of Jan. 5, 1775, 
provided for two brass cannon, two seven inch mortars, etc. 



Concord Fight. n j 



etc.; and on the 25th of the same month two ten inch 
mortars, two howitzers and a supply of shell were ordered, 
together with axes, wheelbarrows and similar tools, and it 
was voted that these supplies, as well as all others that had 
been purchased, should be deposited, as had been voted in 
the case of the commissary stores, at Worcester and Con- 
cord. In February, certain other field pieces that had be- 
longed to the Province militia, but had escaped the search 
that had been made for them by the Governor, were 
ordered to be sent to Concord, the Committee agreeing 
with Colonel Robinson, in whose charge they were, "that in 
case of a rupture with the troops, the said field pieces shall 
be for the use of the artillery companies in Boston and 
Dorchester, and if matters are settled without, said field 
pieces are to be returned to said Robinson." A Commit- 
tee was appointed at the same time to scour the market for 
gunpowder ; and also to procure ten tons of brimstone, the 
latter on condition that it could be returned if not used in 
six months. By vote of the Committee late in February, 
1775, the supplies and armament to be purchased were to 
be sufficient for an army of 1 5,000 men, but it is hardly to 
be inferred that all, or even the larger part, of these com- 
missary and ordnance stores was ever got together. The 
Committee made the most strenuous efforts toward that end 
however, and for some time they met daily for conference 
and to hear reports of sub-committees. Men were hired 
"to make cartridges for 15,000 men for thirty rounds," and 
ten tons of lead balls were ordered in addition to the stock 
in hand. Arms belonging to the Province, that were stored 
in Boston and the adjoining towns, and that escaped seizure 
by the Governor, were hastily carried into the country 
towns and out of danger. Instructions for assembling the 



Preliminaries of 



militia and minute-men were sent out on Feburary 23rd, 
and it was by virtue of these instructions that any part of the 
improvised army was first brought together in bodies larger 
than companies or small battalions. 

We have heard it said that "the golden age of New Eng- 
land was when New England rum was sold on every cor- 
ner." That period, however, was later than 1775, the 
heroic age of New England when there were giants in the 
land, and when the seductive spirit was a guest at every 
household, and sat at every man's table. So the Committee 
of Safety thought it not well that the patriot soldier should 
be deprived of too many of the necessaries of life at once, 
and they voted to purchase twenty hogsheads of Rum, and 
send the same to Concord ; twenty hogsheads of molasses 
were ordered at the same time, so the supply of the great 
national beverage might not fail. An order for fifteen casks 
of wine, possibly for hospital use, went along with all this. 
But it is not needed that we enumerate all the articles of 
ordnance, commissary and quartermaster's stores that were 
ordered, and that until the very day of Concord Fight were 
pouring into the town, until almost every house was a com- 
missary depot. But very few of the stores of any kind were 
deposited at Worcester ; practically only such as came from 
that immediate neighborhood and from the western coun- 
ties of the Province. The scanty and invaluable supply of 
gunpowder was quite widely distributed, to guard against 
accident, and a good part of the artillery was ordered to be 
sent to Worcester and Leicester. It looks as if the inten- 
tion was to establish a reserve depot in the centre of the 
Province, so as to have something to fall back upon in case 
they were defeated and driven back but it is quite evident 



Concord Fight. 23 

that the war was opened before they had time to develop 
this policy. 

Two very important votes were passed in the Committee 
on March 14: the first "that watches be kept constantly at 
the places where the Provincial magazines are kept, and 
that the Clerk write on the subject to Colonel Barrett of 
Concord, Henry Gardner of Stow and Captain Timothy 
Bigelow of Worcester, leaving it to them how many the 
watches shall consist of;" also that "members of this 
Committee belonging to the towns of Charlestown, Cam- 
bridge and Roxbury, be required at the Province expense 
to procure at least two men for a watch every night to be 
placed in each of these towns, and that said members be in 
readiness to send couriers forward to the towns where the 
magazines are placed, when sallies are made from the army 
by night." That is the plain prose of "Paul Revere's 
Ride," though I fancy most people think that Revere acted 
upon his own initiative ; that by some preternatural detect- 
ive skill he divined the plans of General Gage, and set 
himself to thwart them, and "spread the alarm to every 
Middlesex village and farm." As a mere matter of cold 
prose, the troops could not possibly get out of Boston ex- 
cept through Charlestown, Cambridge or Roxbury ; and 
Paul Revere's ride, to be performed perhaps by him, per- 
haps by any other as it might happen of the couriers who 
were kept in readiness in these thre towns, was all ar- 
ranged for, more than a month beforehand, — "at the Prov- 
ince expense." 

The second of the important votes I just spoke of, was 
one "requiring Colonel Barrett of Concord to engage a 
sufficient number of faithful men to guard the Colony's 
magazines in that town; to keep a suitable number of teams 



2 4 Preliminaries of 

in constant readiness, by day and night, on the shortest 
notice, to remove the stores ; and to provide couriers to 
alarm the neighboring towns, on receiving information of 
any movements of the British troops." This vote is, of it- 
self, enough to refute many erroneous statements and mali- 
cious innuendoes that partisan and prejudiced minor histo- 
rians have indulged themselves in, regarding Concord's 
share in the honors of the 19th of April, but it is beyond 
the scope of the present paper to consider of those matters. 
Just before the ist of April, a ton of musket bullets arrived 
in Concord and were lodged with Colonel Barrett. This 
looks like a great deal, but musket balls were heavier then 
than now, and this ton represents at most but about 36,000 
shots. The sessions of the Committee at Concord were 
continued for a few days after the adjournment of the Con- 
gress, and indeed until April 18, and a further meeting was 
to have been held at Menotomy on the 19th, but the other 
events of that day naturally caused this meeting to be given 
up. On this last day's session, the i8th, orders were 
adopted looking to the removal of a large part of the sup- 
plies now collected at Concord, to places a little further 
back in the country, — to Sudbury, Groton, Stow, Lan- 
caster and Worcester, principally, — Concord being by 
this time so full of all sorts of stores that there was really 
not room for any more, though additions were coming in 
rapidly, day by day. That very night the removal of the 
designated portion of the stores began, and at the time that 
Colonel Smith's little detachment of regulars were standing 
in the mud at Lechmere's Point awaiting the word to 
march, the Concord men, who did not expect any move- 
ment of the troops to be made quite so soon, were already 
on the road with all the teams they could raise, carrying 



Concord Fight. or 

provisions, rum, tools, camp equipage and ammunition to 
the designated towns. 

The meetings of the Committee of Safety were held in 
private houses. The Committee was a small and carefully 
chosen body, and its proceedings were kept secret to a 
much greater degree than those of the Congress could pos- 
sibly be. Of course the activity at Concord, however, 
could not long escape the notice of the Royalist com- 
mander, for there were many persons in almost every town 
whose sympathies were with the established government, 
and who could be relied on to keep the General advised of 
every unusual movement. Concord was not without its rep- 
resentatives of this class ; able, intelligent and observant 
citizens, from whom but little of what was going on in the 
town could long be hidden. During the autumn and the 
early part of the winter also, British officers were frequent 
visitors to the place, and their presence, since they came in 
uniform and without disguise, was not much noticed, or at 
any rate not resented. Early in the Spring it became evi- 
dent to General Gage that the vital spot of the rebellion 
was exactly here ; that it behooved him to strike at this spot 
as soon as the weather should permit and before the shad- 
owy army, of which he had heard so much and had been 
able to see so little, should gain form and coherency. He 
did not and could not know how narrowly and constantly 
his own movements were watched, and he set about his prep- 
arations, in a blundering sort of way that ought to have 
caused him to be superseded in his command before he 
made so dismal a failure of it. Officers were sent out in 
disguise to sketch the roads, and make such military survey 
of the defiles, the defensive points, the character of the 
country, streams, bridges, parallel and intersecting roads and 



l6 Preliminaries of 

all such points as a prudent commander needs to know be- 
fore advancing into a hostile country. Two of these 
officers were here in the middle of March, and on their re- 
turn furnished a very good military map of the country, 
which they declared to be "an immensely strong one" for 
the defence, if only there were any soldiers to defend it, 
which, in their view, there were not, though they had been 
informed by friendly authority that "the peasants" would 
fight desperately. The presence of these two officers was 
detected almost as soon as they got into the town. Being 
out of uniform they might well have suffered from the 
hands of the people some indignities that would certainly 
not have been offered to them if they had come without 
disguise, for just at that time the greatest care was exercised 
not to attack any man or any body of men wearing the 
King's uniform : but when these two officers got to Concord, 
it was Sunday, and our great grandfathers, respecters as 
they were of the holy day, permitted them and their local 
entertainer, Mr. Daniel Bliss, to get out of the town at 
nightfall unharmed. 

As an instance of the unwillingness of the Provincials 
to attack the King's uniform, may be called to mind the 
march of a battalion of infantry from Boston to Marsh- 
field late in January, who went and returned unmolested 
and unmolesting, as quietly as our local infantry company 
to-day might march from here to Framingham and back. 
A httle later Col. LesHe and a small detachment went to 
Salem one Sunday morning on a distinctly hostile errand, 
to seize some pieces of artillery. He was met by nothing 
more hostile than the raising of a drawbridge over the 
creek and the scuttling of a couple of barges, and had to 
withdraw. There was a sort of humor in that situation ; 



Concord Fight. 27 

for the Yankees barred his way across the bridge simply 
and solely because it was private property and there was no 
right of way across it ; the boats also were private property 
and the owner had an indefeasible right to knock a hole in 
their bottoms if he chose to, even though his exercise of 
that right happened by a strange coincidence to occur at 
just about the same time that Colonel Leslie got along. 
Thus they " kept on the windy side of the law." But this 
determination to act at first solely on the defensive, to let 
the soldiery fire first, was the very foundation of the in- 
structions given to the officers and soldiers of the new 
Massachusetts army. They were willing enough to fight 
in their own defence, but they must not begin. They had 
learned that lesson at any rate and learned it thoroughly, 
and on April 19th they put it thoroughly in practice, at 
Lexington and at Concord. 

Colonel Leslie's abortive little exploit at Salem was 
undertaken before the fact had fully developed that Con- 
cord was really the important point, but when that became 
fully manifest, Gen. Gage did not think it worth his while 
to risk any lives or to waste any effort on minor points. 
The Provincials knew of course that the safety of the pre- 
cious stores and munitions of war that they had been in- 
dustriously and painfully piling up in Concord's houses and 
barns, or secretly burying beneath her soil, was the one 
thing they were first to think of. If these were destroyed, 
it meant ruin and subjugation, for the amount deposited 
here was larger than all that was gathered elsewhere, and 
the loss of the greater part of such supplies, the total of 
which was at best but pitifully meagre, would drive away the 
doubtful among the people and take away the courage of 
even the most sanguine. This place must be defended at 



28 Preliminaries of Concord Fight. 

all costs and at any risk. Every minute-man throughout 
the Province knew that when the alarm should come that 
was to call him to the field, it would come from Concord. 
It could not possibly come from any other place. When 
Captain John Parker paraded his little company on the 
green at Lexington, long before daylight on the morning of 
April 19, he knew, and they knew, that it was for the de- 
fence of Concord, that they stood there. Their own homes 
were in no danger ; the troops that marched stealthily and 
rapidly through Cambridge and Menotomy, would march 
as stealthily and rapidly through Lexington if they could, 
for there was nothing in any of these places that was worth 
halting for. Colonel Smith was not out gunning for rebels 
on general principles. He had a certain definite and im- 
perative duty to perform, to destroy the incipient rebellion 
at one blow. The solar plexus of that rebellion was 
at Concord, and the blow must be struck there. Con- 
cord Fight was foreordained from the moment the first cart 
load of warlike stores was landed in the town. General 
Gage knew it, the patriots knew it, and though Gage's action 
was so sudden at the last as to be almost in the nature of a 
surprise, still it was so bunglingly and lamely conceived and 
executed that the comparative unreadiness of the patriots 
was of no disadvantage whatever to them. 

But all this belongs to the history of the 19th of April,^ — 
and that is another story. I set out only to talk of the 
"preliminaries," the prologue, now played through, of the 
great drama of the Revolution, of which the first act is 
called, the stage is set at Concord, the actors in scarlet from 
the barracks of Boston and in homespun from the farms 
of Middlesex are waiting in the wings the rise of the 
curtain. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Hey wood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 

Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

Telephone Co7inectioii. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 



GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor, i 
Concord, Mass. 

OfF Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
.1747-1776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. 



Net 



$4.00. 



CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards, 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Battle, April 19, 1775. 

OLD NORTH BRIDGE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages with competent guides to 

meet all cars on Monument Square, 

the centre of all points of historic 

interest: 

Carriages may be ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
lecting antiques with a local history, I 
have instructed the guides the associa- 
tion of the points of interest, which 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, na«s. 

J. W. CULL, Hanager. 



MGMANUS BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 



Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, t» Mass. 

Opposite Fitchbtirg Depot. 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES. 

SPORTING GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 



RENTING, 



REPAIRING 
AND TEACHING 



When your Bicycle breaks down, 
your Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

SHOP, MONUMENT ST., Telephone U-5 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telephone 28-4 



At 



MISS BUCK'S 



MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



I 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 
Thoreau Penholders, 15c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 
Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 
For sale by 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 

Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 

Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLEX SON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

M 1 a 15 ill an 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE, 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



At. . . 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 
may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 



GUIDE BOOKS 



and books by 



CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 
Druggist. 



Huyler's Candies 
Souvenir Postal Cards 
Photographs, etc. 



Concord, 



Mass. 



The Colonial, 

Monument Square, 
Concord, Massachusetts. 

V^ILLIAM E. RAND, 

Proprietor. 



TWO BOOKS by -Hargaret Sidney.*' 

Old Concord: Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J, 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, ^2.00. 

"One of the choicest souvenirs of the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreau, Hawthorne, and tlie Alcotts." — B/oston Globe. 

" It is written in a style as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
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Little Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
. Frank T. Merrill. I1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famous North Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
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such a story as yoimg people like; as the founder of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

are from 

(Ibc patriot 1^1x00 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

'•The Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
The Erudite (monthly) 
Concord., A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 



ITbe ^ovon of (^oncor^ 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
AND DEATHS 

from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for $5 each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



1 THE MINUTE MEN 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN. 



'^.> 



^cl^lorACn.^ 



/ 



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Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has written a stirring romance 
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about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
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THE 



CONCORD MINUTE MEN 



READ BEFORE THE 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

March 4, 1901 



By GEORGE TOLMAN 

Secretary of the Society 



PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



Established September, 1886 



Executive Committee for 1900-01 

President. 
Vice- Presidents. 



THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . 

SAMUEL HOAR, Esq 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 

THOMAS TODD 

GEORGE TOLMAN .... 
CHARLES H. WALCOTT, Esq. 
EDWARD V^. EMERSON, M.D. 



Treasurer. 
Secretary. 



House on Lexington Road 



THE CONCORD MINUTE MEN. 



March, 1901. 
IT will perhaps be remembered that at the January 
A meetmg of this Society, I mentioned that the 
origmal muster roll of Capt. Charles Miles' Concord 
Company of Minute Men, that was engaged at the 
North Bridge on the 19th of April, 1775, was about 
to be sold at the auction of the Dr. Charles E. Clark 
collection in Boston, and that I purposed to make 
as high a bid for it as I thought the Society would 
stand. It is perhaps unnecessary now to remark that 
I did not get it, although my representative went 
higher for it than I, with the natural conservatism of 
old age, should have ventured, and the precious docu- 
ment was at last knocked down to a New York 
publishing house for $275. Of course they expect 
to make money on it, and the ultimate destination 
of this roll, which ought never to have left the Town 
of Concord, will be the private library of some mil- 
lionaire collector, or the cabinet of some historical 
society that can afford to make a permanent invest- 
ment of its funds in historical documents of this 
sort. Of one thing, however, we may be reasonably 
confident, and that is the future safety of this im- 
portant and interesting paper. It can never be lost 
or destroyed, or left disregarded to turn up at some 
time in the distant future, in a second-hand book 



shop at the price of a shilling, for its value has 
now been permanently fixed at above a minimum 
of ^275, and not only will its present possessors 
take every care for its preservation, but also, if it 
ever comes upon the market again, numbers of 
anxious collectors will be ready to compete, at still 
higher figures, for the privilege of taking equal care 
of it forever. If the Concord Antiquarian Society, 
or its representative at the sale, had wanted to buy 
the document as a speculation — to sell it again 
at an advanced figure — it might have afforded to 
raise the bluff still higher, but of course this idea 
is quite out of the question, for it would have been 
a point of honor, if the paper could possibly have 
been brought back to Concord, that it should have 
remained here forever. 

But it was only about twenty-five years ago, at 
or near the time of the centennial celebration of 
Concord Fight, that Dr. Clark offered to sell this 
same document for twenty-five dollars to Concord. 
I remember the incident quite distinctly, and also 
that the Doctor showed me the paper, — as also 
some other Concord papers (to be spoken of later) 
that had come into his possession. I had no funds 
to buy it with, but the matter was referred to some 
of the principal public-spirited men of the town (I 
have the impression that it was to the Trustees of 
the Public Library, but I am not confident on that 
point), and they concluded that it was not worth 
while to invest, and not dignified to buy on specu- 
lation, so the purchase was not made. 

Dr. Clark was at that time just beginning his 
collection of American portraits, prints, autographs. 



etc., especially of those connected with the period 
of the Revolution, — or rather, he was just beginning 
to be hiown as a collector, for, as he told me, he 
had been from his boyhood addicted to picking up 
such things as he could find them, an easier thing 
to do then, and earlier, than it is now — and in the 
following years he got together a mass of such 
material, hardly equalled by any collection in the 
country, so large, indeed, that the catalogue com- 
prised over 2,000 numbers, and it took three days 
to dispose of them by auction. I think from watch- 
ing a part of the sale that, considered merely as a 
money-making business, it would hardly have been 
possible for him to have invested in any recognized 
mercantile business the same money he put into 
this collection, in the same amounts and at the 
same times, and to have realized so great a profit 
from his investment. 

Since the Society's last meeting, perhaps on 
account of the sale of this very document, I have 
had inquiries from three different persons, in widely 
separated places, as to the Concord Minute Men, of 
whom there is no list in the Massachusetts Revo- 
lutionary archives at the State House, though there 
are rolls of all the minute men who turned out 
from other towns on the 19th of April, 1775. 
Obiter die he, these rolls are docketed and indexed 
" Lexington Alarm " lists, when in point of fact 
Lexington was only an incident in the affair of that 
date. Concord was the objective point of General 
Gage's raid into the country, and Lexington, as well 
as Cambridge and Menotomy, happened to be on 
the road that led thither. Nobody in the whole 



Province was alarmed about Lexington, — everybody 
was anxious for Concord and the precious war 
material there deposited, the very heart and vitals 
of the incipient rebellion. The minute men of Essex 
and Worcester and Middlesex, when they turned 
out that morning, turned out for the defense of 
Concord, not of Lexington ; they all knew where 
Concord was and the road that led to it, but out- 
side of our own county, it is doubtful if one 
minute man in a dozen had ever heard of Lexing- 
ton, or at any rate could tell whether it was north, 
south, east, or west of Concord. (I always think it 
my duty to protest the claims of Lexington, even 
though the ofiticial archives of the Commonwealth 
appear as her indorser.) The reason that the list 
of Concord Minute Men does not appear in the so- 
called " Lexington Alarm " lists, however, is not as 
might perhaps appear to a superficial observer, 
because Concord was not alarmed about the safety 
of Lexington. It was because, some years after the 
event, an appropriation of money was made to pay 
the men who had rushed to the defense of Concord 
for their military service and travel, and the Captains 
from all over the Province sent in their properly 
attested muster rolls, most, if not all, of which have 
been preserved to this day. Concord paid her own 
soldiers, and though I know of no other enlistment 
roll than this one of which I have been speaking, 
the names of nearly all of them appear in the 
Town's records, scattered along through several 
pages, as they were paid by the Town Treasurer 
from time to time, but not so arrans^ed as to make 
it certain what particular company any individual 
soldier belonared to. 



One of my correspondents appears to be a little 
confused by the following paragraph, which he quotes 
from Shattuck's "History of Concord," page no- — 
" There were at this time in this vicinity, under 
rather imperfect organization, a regiment of militia 
and a reg't of minute men. The officers of the 
mihtia were James Barrett, Col. ; Nathan Barrett and 
Geo. Minott of Concord Captains," [and others from 
other towns whom it is not necessary to name here]. 
" The officers of the minute men were Abijah Pierce 
of Lincoln, Col; Thos. Nixon of Framingham, Lt. 
Col; John Buttrick and Jacob Miller, Majors; Thos* 
Hurd of Ea. Sudbury, Adj't; David Brown and Chas. 
Miles of Concord, Isaac Davis of Acton, Wm. Smith 
of Lincoln, Jonathan Wilson of Bedford, John Nixon 
of Sudbury, Captains. The officers of the minute 
men had no commissions; their authority was de- 
rived solely from the suffrages of their companions. 
Nor were any of the companies formed in regular 
order" [i.e., as the line was formed on the hill by 
Lieut. Joseph Hosmer, acting as Adjutant]. 

^ Our common use of the word "militia" to 
designate a certain organized, disciplined, and uni- 
formed force, such as is called in most of the States 
the "National Guard," is responsible for this con- 
fusion. The "militia," then as now, was the entire 
body of citizens of military age (with certain excep- 
tions, such as clergymen and paupers, for instance). 
This body of militia was mustered and paraded one 
or more times in the year, under officers whose com- 
missions ran in the name of the King, and were 
signed by the royal Governor. They were then, as 
now, a part of the authorized forces of the govern- 



ment, liable to be called out e7i masse, or by means 
of a draft, at the call of the constituted authorities. 
Many of us remember how in the late Civil War, a 
draft was made from the militia of the United 
States, to fill up the depleted army. The same 
process of drafting from the militia had been fol- 
lowed in the various Indian wars of the Colony, and 
later, in the Province wars of the eighteenth century. 
The custom of mustering the militia annually or 
semi-annually continued until about half a century 
ago, until it became an object of popular ridicule 
and degenerated simply to burlesque, when it was 
very properly discontinued. I remember in my boy- 
hood that the walls of my grandfather's shop were 
papered with citations, calling him and his workmen 
and apprentices to military duty. He was merely a 
militia man, and his citations called upon him as 
"being duly enrolled'''' . . . " to appear armed and 
equipped," while Clark Munroe, who worked for him, 
being a member of the Light Infantry, a "chartered 
company," was cited as "duly enlisted'" . . . " to 
appear armed, equipped and uniformed." 

Long before the outbreak of actual hostilities in 
1775, General Gage, acting Governor of the Province, 
had become suspicious of the militia. He had the 
authority to call them out, whenever necessary, for 
the forcible suppression of mob violence, and the 
enforcement of law and order, exactly as the Governor 
of the Commonwealth has today. But in the then 
temper of the people he was inclined, as was Hotspur 
in the matter of the spirits, to ask " will they come 
when I do call for them .? " and was obliged to 
acknowledge to himself that they most certainly 



would not, or if they did, they would range them- 
selves on the side of revolution rather than on that 
of the established legal authorities. So, as far as 
possible, the assembling of the militia was prevented, 
and the annual musterings were discontinued. Even 
" the chartered companies," answering somewhat to 
our " Volunteer Militia " or " National Guard " of 
today, were frowned upon, and as far as possible 
disarmed, though they did manage to save to them- 
selves some pieces of artillery, the property of the 
Province, which afterward did their duty in the pro- 
vincial army. The commissions of the militia offi- 
cers were revoked in some few cases, but for the 
most part had not been recalled. Practically these 
commissions were all that was left of the organiza- 
tion of the militia of the Province, months before the 
19th of April, 1775, and owing to the long discon- 
tinuance of " trainings," it was simply this skeleton 
of a few commissions that formed the " Regiment 
of Militia under rather imperfect organization," and 
commanded by Col. James Barrett, of which Shattuck 
speaks. 

The throttling, by Governor Gage, of the Gen- 
eral Court, the constitutional legislature of the Prov- 
ince, led to the assemblinor in Concord on the nth 
of October, 1774, of a body of delegates chosen from 
the several towns in the same manner as the Repre- 
sentatives in General Court were chosen, and for 
much the same purposes as were the deliberations 
and actions of that body. This new body of dele- 
gates called itself a Provincial Congress, and held 
three sessions : the first, of five days in October, at 
Concord ; the second, of two weeks in the same 



month; and the third, of nearly three weeks in 
November and December, at Cambridge. One of 
the first proceedings of this body was to take into 
consideration the disorganized condition of the 
miHtia, and to take measures to form a new force, 
under its own orders, and independent of the royal 
governor. The committee's report on this matter, 
which was adopted unanimously, sets forth that, 
whereas a formidable body of troops are already 
arrived at the metropolis of the Province, and more 
are on the way, with the express design of sub- 
verting the constitution of the Province; and 
whereas the Governor has attempted to use his 
troops against the inhabitants of Salem, and has 
fortified Boston against the country, and has unlaw- 
fully seized upon and kept certain arms and am- 
munition provided at the public cost for the use of 
the Province, "at the same time having neglected 
and altogether disregarded the assurances from this 
Congress of the pacific disposition of the inhabitants 
of this Province," . . . "notwithstanding that the 
Province has not the most distant design of attack- 
ing, annoying or molesting his Majesty's troops 
aforesaid "— in view of all these things a Committee 
of Safety shall be appointed, who shall, among other 
powers and duties, " have power and they are hereby 
directed whenever they shall judge it necessary for 
the safety and defense of the inhabitants of this 
Province and their property, to alarm, muster and 
cause to be assembled, with the utmost expedition, 
and completely armed, accoutred and supplied with 
provisions sufficient for their support in their march 
to the place of rendezvous, such and so many of 



the militia as they shall judge necessary for the 
ends aforesaid, and at such place or places as they 
shall judge proper, and them to discharge as soon 
as the safety of this Province shall permit." 

Other resolutions provided for the purchase of 
arms, ammunition, provisions and all kinds of mili- 
tary stores, and for their accumulation and care at 
Concord and Worcester, The new force was to be 
"enlisted" to the number of at least one fourth of 
the militia. That is to say, it was to comprise one 
fourth of the men of military age in the Province, 
and was to be raised not by a draft, but by volun- 
tary enlistment. This was practically necessary. 
There were, as the Congress well knew, and as sub- 
sequent events amply proved, very many citizens 
who were opposed to the action of the Congress, and 
to any measures which looked like forcible resist- 
ance to the established government, even though 
they might not entirely approve of the course of 
Governor Gage and the constituted authorities. It 
was to keep these citizens quiet and to stifle their 
objections to measures that were plainly revolu- 
tionary, and that in the very nature of things must 
lead inevitably to open hostilities, that the Congress 
declared that it " will consider all measures tending 
to prevent a reconciliation between Britain and these 
Colonies, as the highest degree of enmity to the 
Province." The committee that drew up this reso- 
lution, and the Congress that adopted it, knew per- 
fectly well that the very measures they were taking 
would tend and were tending to " prevent a recon- 
ciliation between Britain and her Colonies." They 
knew also that in the clash of arms for which they 



were preparing with such feverish haste, it would 
be imperatively necessary that they should have a 
military force on which they could depend, a force 
of men who had taken up arms of their own 
volition, and with full knowledge that such taking 
of arms might, and almost certainly would, lead to 
open rebellion and treason. So, by the process of 
voluntary enlistment in the new force, the Congress 
weeded out the loyalists from the ranks of the 
militia, and assured itself of an army that could be 
relied upon, made up of men who knew the risk 
that they were assuming. 

It was this force of men to which the name 
of Minute Men was applied. This appears to have 
been at first a popular name for the force, doubt- 
less derived from the terms of the enlistment paper, 
which was as follows: — 

I. We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, 
will to the utmost of our power defend His Majesty 
King George the Third, his person, crown and 

dignity. 

II. We will at the same time, to the utmost 
of our power and abilities, defend all and every of 
our charter rights, liberties and privileges ; and will 
hold ourselves in readiness at a minutes warning, 
with arms and ammunition thus to do. 

III. We will at all times and in all places 
obey our officers chosen by us, and our superior 
officers, in ordering and disciplining us, when and 
where said officers shall think proper. 

These terms of enlistment were drawn up by a 
committee of this Town of Concord, and reported 
to a town meeting, January 9, i775' o^ which date 



13 

and at which meeting the town voted to pay each 
"minute man" at a certain rate per diem for ten 
months. This is the first use of the word "minute 
man " that I have been able to find in any officially 
recorded document or record of proceedings, from 
which fact I am led to infer that the word was 
coined in Concord; a happy inspiration of some one 
of our local patriots, to distinguish this yet-to-be- 
created army of volunteers, and that the apposite- 
ness and significance of the term caused it to spread 
all over the Province, from this great centre and 
vital spot of the organization of the revolutionary 
movement. 

If I am correct in this inference (and I am 
fairly sure that I am), to Concord belongs not only 
the honor of being the spot on which "was made 
the first forcible resistance to British aggression," 
but also of being the birthplace of the very 7iame 
which for 125 years has been the synonym for a 
soldier of liberty. The term " minute man " appears 
for the first time on the records of the Provincial 
Congress, in the minutes of its proceedings of April 
10, 1775, when that body was sitting in Concord, 
but little more than a week before the minute men 
received their " baptism of fire." 

Mr. Shattuck informs us that on Thursday, 
January 12, 1775, a meeting was held to enlist the 
men, under the articles that I have just read, at 
which the Rev. Wm. Emerson preached a sermon 
from Psalms Ixiii: 2, and about sixty enlisted. They 
could n't do anything in those days except with the 
concomitance of more or less preaching, but I con- 
fess I am not theologian enough, nor soldier enough, 



14 

to see the peculiar appositeness to the occasion, of 
the text, " To see thy power and thy glory, so as I 
have seen thee in the sanctuary," and if Shattuck 
were not so thoroughly trustworthy in theological 
matters, albeit sometimes a little bit shaky in his- 
torical statements, I should be inclined to fancy that 
he had cited the wrong chapter and verse. 

However, this date, January 12, 1775, and its 
story of sixty enlistments, brings us back once more 
to our own text, from which I fear we have widely 
divagated, the Muster Roll of Captain Charles Miles' 
Company. Doubtless his Company was the first 
one to be filled up, and includes the larger part of 
the sixty who enlisted on January 12 — a circum- 
stance which makes it doubly to be regretted that 
the original roll of honor of the Revolutionary War 
has passed irrevocably out of our possible possession. 
The document begins : — 

"Concord, January 17th, 1775, then we chose our 
officers and settled the Company of Minute Men 
under the command of Capt. Charles Miles." Then 
follow the names which I will read here ; though in 
general a list of names is uninteresting reading, still 
it is well' to remember that these men were the 
pioneers, the very advance guard of that great army 
"which gave liberty to these United States;" They 
were: Captain, Charles Miles; Lieutenants, Jonathan 
Farrar and Francis Wheeler ; Sergeants David Hart- 
well, Amos Hosmer, Silas Walker, Edward Richard- 
son ; Corporals, Simeon Hayward, Nathan Peirce, 
James Cogswell ; Drummer, Daniel Brown ; Fifer, 
Samuel Derby ; Privates, Joseph Cleasby, Simeon 
Burrage, Israel Barrett, Daniel Hoar, Ephraim 



15 

Brooks, Wm. Burrage, Joseph Stratton, Stephen 
Brooks, Simon Wheeler, Ebenezer Johnson, Stephen 
Stearns, Wm. Brown, Jeremiah Clark, Jacob Ames, 
Benjamin Hosmer, Joel Hosmer, Samuel Wheeler, 
Wareham Wheeler, Oliver Wheeler, Jesse Hosmer, 
Amos Darby, Solomon Rice, Thaddeus Bancroft, 
Amos Melvin, Samuel Melvin, Nathan Dudley, 
Oliver Parlin, John Flag, Samuel Emery, John Cole, 
Daniel Cole, Barnabas Davis, Major Raly, Edward 
Wilkins, Daniel Farrar, Oliver Harris, Samuel Jewel, 
Daniel Wheat, John Corneall, Levi Hosmer. 

There they are, fifty-two of them in all. You 
will have noticed how many of the family names are 
still upon our list of inhabitants, — how many of 
them are to be found also in Concord's latest list 
of young heroes and patriots, our boys who turned 
out at their country's call, less than three years ago. 
There are thirty-six family names in this muster 
roll of Captain Miles' Company, and of these, twenty- 
one are names of families that had been settled in 
Concord for more than one hundred years. Other 
old families (Buttrick, Flint, Hunt, Stow, Wood, 
Wright, for instance) are absent from this roll, but 
appear with full representation in the other com- 
panies that were formed about the same time. 

Following the list of names I have just read, 
is a record of the meetings of the Company, twice 
a week until the end of February, giving the names 
of those who were " missing " at each meeting, — 
that is, of those who did not turn out for drill, — 
not many at any particular drill, showing quite 
distinctly the conscientious enthusiasm with which 
these young farmers applied themselves to the busi- 



i6 



ness, unfamiliar to most of them, of learning the 
military exercise, and preparing to fire the cele- 
brated "shot heard round the world" — which par- 
ticular shot, by the way, I notice with great regret, 
the newspaper and magazine writers have lately been 
locating at Lexington. A separate slip of paper, 
attached to the record as above, and in the same 
handwriting, reads : — 

"Concord, April 19, 1775, then the battel 
begune, then we ware caled away to Cambridg — 
and April the 20th then we was caled to arms to 
Concord — and April the 21 then we was caled to 
Arms to Concord — and April the 30 then we was 
cald to Cambridge — and May the 5, 1775, then we 
went on Card and stood twenty four ours — May 
the 6, 1775 then went on Gard and stood twenty four 
ours, and found ourselves." 

This standing on guard May 5 and 6 was, of 
course, at the camp at Cambridge, and was doubtless 
the last service performed by the Company ; at all 
events, it finishes the record. From the fact that 
they had to "find" themselves on the last day — that 
is to say, that they were not furnished with rations 
from the camp — I infer that that day's service was 
" over time," as it were ; that they remained on duty 
one day longer than they were absolutely required 
to. Most of the names in Captain Miles' roll appear 
immediately afterward in the muster roll of Captain 
Abishai Brown's Company, which was with the army 
at Cambridge until after the battle of Bunker Hill, 
as appears from the orderly book of Sergeant 
Nathan Stow. The name of " Minute Man " had by 
that time been outgrown ; the men were no longer 



emergency men ; the flimsy and sophistical pretense, 
so long maintained by the Provincial Congress, of 
loyalty to the person and crown of George the 
Third had been once for all abandoned; the men in 
arms at Cambridge were officially recognized and 
spoken of as " the army ; " henceforward there was 
to be no argument but war, no softening of terms 
and phrases, no veiling of rebellion and revolution 
under any equivoque, no peace but such as could be 
conquered. 

It may perhaps be not out of the way to say 
that Captain Miles and his fifty-one men w^re not 
the only minute men of Concord. Another Com- 
pany was raised by Captain David Brown at the 
same time and on the same terms of enlistment, and 
at a town meeting a few days later, it was reported 
that the number in both companies was just one 
hundred. The names of ninety-nine men appear 
on the town records as having been paid by the 
Town for their service as " minute men," but there 
are seven names in the list I have just read of 
Captain Miles' command that do not show in these 
lists of payments. Possibly there were also some 
men in Captain Brown's Company who did not 
trouble themselves to draw from the Town the few 
shillings to which they were entitled, but it is prob- 
able that the list of names here given is practically 
the muster roll of the company, which comprised : — 
David Brown, Captain; David Wheeler and Silas 
Man, Lieutenants ; Abishai Brown, Emerson Cogs- 
well and Amos Wood, Sergeants ; Amos Barrett, 
Stephen Barrett, Reuben Hunt and Stephen Jones, 
Corporals; John Buttrick, Jr., Fifer, and Phineas 



Alin, Humphrey Barrett, Jr., Elias Barron, Jonas 
Bateman, John Brown, Jr., Jonas Brown, Purchase 
Brown, Abiel Buttrick, Daniel Buttrick, Oliver But- 
trick, Tilly Buttrick, Willard Buttrick, Wm. Buttrick, 
Daniel Cray, Amos Davis, Abraham Davis, Joseph 
Davis, Jr., Joseph Dudley, Charles Flint, Edward 
Flint, Edward Flint, Jr., Nathan Flint, Ezekiel 
Hagar, Isaac Hoar, David Hubbard, John Laughton, 
David Melvin, Jr., William Mercer, John Minot, Jr., 
Thos. Prescott, Bradbury Robinson, Ebenezer Stow, 
Nathan Stow, Thomas Thurston, Jotham Wheeler, 
Peter Wheeler, Zachary Wheeler, Ammi White, 
John White, Jonas Whitney, Aaron Wright. John 
Buttrick was a Major of Minute Men, and he com- 
pletes, as far as is now possible, the list of Concord's 
soldiers who are entitled to that distinctive name. 

This list is even more representative of Concord 
than is that of Captain Miles' company, for forty- 
one of the fifty-two names comprised in it are of 
members of the old Concord families, men whose 
ancestors had lived here for at least three genera- 
tions. 

There were also two companies of the regular 
" militia " in the town, which had charters and com- 
missions under the royal authority, and which had 
all along maintained some degree of organization 
and were now recruited up to their full strength, be- 
fore the organization of the minute men was begun. 
One of these was a " horse company," a relic of the 
old Indian fighting days, and this company, after- 
ward as the Concord Light Infantry, kept up its 
existence under its old charter until about fifty years 
ago, when it was unfortunately disbanded, being at 



19 

the time of its disbandment the oldest chartered 
military company in New England, save and except- 
ing only the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany of Boston. Of these two Concord militia 
companies, Nathan Barrett and George Minott were 
Captains; Joseph Hosmer, who acted as Adjutant at 
the Bridge, was a Lieutenant in one of them, and 
James Barrett was Colonel of the regiment to which 
they both belonged. 

All these Concord companies, both of minute 
men and militia, were together once, before the 19th 
of April, 1775, viz.: on the 13th of March, and the 
battalion went through with some military exercises ; 
of which, the one that seemed most important to 
be mentioned by the devout historian of Concord 
was the listening to a sermon by the Rev. Mr. 
Emerson from the text, " Behold God himself is with 
us for our Captain, and his Priests with sounding 
trumpets to cry alarm against you," a highly appro- 
priate text for a sermon just at that time : something 
on the lines of Cromwell's order to "trust in God, 
but keep your powder dry," only while Cromwell 
seemed to imply that the latter part of the order 
was of paramount importance, the minister, as per- 
haps bound by his priestly office, appears to rely 
much more upon his assurance of the divine favor 
than upon the practical matter of detail implied in 
the condition of the ammunition. 

This 13th of March was a Sunday. It was on 
the very next Sunday, — the 20th — that two of 
General Gage's engineer officers visited Concord in 
disguise, and were entertained by the Hon. Daniel 
Bliss, with the result that, their business being dis- 



covered, the second Sunday was hardly less full of 
excitement than the first. 

When the line of the patriots came to be 
formed on the slope of Punkatasset Hill on the 
morning of the 19th of April, there were present 
companies or parts of companies from Concord and 
from the adjacent towns, her daughters; but what 
with the mixture of regular militia and minute men, 
and the fact that so many of Concord's men were 
absent from the field in the morning, engaged in 
the paramount duty of removing to places of greater 
security the precious stores of war material, the loss 
of which would be a severer blow to the patriot 
cause than would be any merely military defeat, it is 
not to be wondered at that, as Shattuck says, " none 
of the companies were formed in regular order," 

It can never be known with any certainty, who 
of the Concord soldiers were at the bridge when 
the fight took place there. We have no muster 
rolls of the two militia companies, and there are 
many names preserved by tradition as having borne 
arms on that day which are not to be found in the 
lists I have read ; most of these persons were doubt- 
less militiamen, like Thaddeus Blood, who died in 
1844, and is recorded as " the last man in this town 
that was at Concord Fight." 

For many hours before the arrival of the British 
soldiers, every man in the town (practically) had been 
actively engaged in carting away to Stow and Acton 
and Littleton, and even farther, the provisions and 
military stores of which the town had been the 
place of deposit. As the feeble and scattered line 
beean to form itself on the further side of the river, 



21 



these men came back from their errand singly or 
in small groups, and sought as nearly as they could 
their proper place in the ranks. Many of them of 
course did not get back at all until after the little 
skirmish at the bridge was over. But even those 
did their duty as much, and doubtless with much 
the same spirit, as did our Captain Charles Miles, 
who, we are told, went into the battle with the same 
feelings with which he went to church. The safety 
of the military stores and supplies was the all-im- 
portant object, which by vote of the Provincial Con- 
gress had been made the especial duty of Colonel 
James Barrett. If this object could have been 
secured without firing a gun. Colonel Barrett and 
his men would have been better pleased, for the 
hastily formed, undisciplined and straggling little 
army was far from being prepared, in any respect 
of personnel or of war material, to lock horns with 
the royal regiments, even if it had known how much 
of military incompetence was concentrated in the 
brain of the British General-in-Chief. It was Gen- 
eral Gage's absolutely colossal faculty of blundering 
that precipitated Concord Fight and the siege of 
Boston. The patriots had been inclined to give 
him some credit as a strategist and as a tactician, 
and would willingly have postponed for a time the 
wager of battle. This was evidently the meaning 
of the often repeated and somewhat supererogatory 
protestations of loyalty to " our gracious sovereign. 
King George the Third." 

But if fighting must be precipitated, we cannot 
doubt that every captain of minute men in the entire 
Province was equally ready to declare, and equally 



22 



justified in declaring, with Captain Isaac Davis of 
Acton, that he "hadn't a man that was afraid to 
go." You remember that besides Captain Davis, 
Captain Smith of Lincoln and Captain Wilson of 
Bedford had their companies at the scene of action 
before the invading expedition got here, and that 
Captain Parker had his men out on the Lexington 
Common before that expedition had got out of the 
mud of East Cambridge. 

But to come back again within hailing distance 
of our text; we have seen that the Minute Men 
were to hold themselves in readiness at all times 
" at a minute's warning, with arms and ammunition." 
So strictly was this construed, that, on the authority 
of tradition, it is stated that no man, after being 
duly mustered in, allowed himself to be separated 
from his arms for one moment, sleeping or waking. 
At church, at the shop, on the farm or at the 
market, the trusty gun, that had perhaps seen ser- 
vice at Louisbourg thirty years before, or in Nova 
Scotia in 1755, or had been carried by one of 
Colonel John Cuming's men in the Northern ex- 
pedition of 1758, or by one of Colonel Jonathan 
Hoar's soldiers during the closing campaign of the 
French war in 1760, now carefully repaired and put 
in order for another spell of activity, stood always 
ready to its owner's hand. What the new army of 
freedom lacked in the niceties of military drill, it 
made up for in knowing something of marksman- 
ship ; what it wanted in formality, it compensated 
for in constant readiness and watchfulness. 

The men were to be assembled for drill twice 
in each week, for three hours at each time, at /s. 



23 

8d., afterward increased to 2s., for each attendance, 
not a high rate of pay, as we look at things today, 
especially as each man found his own gun, the 
"cartouch-box " alone being furnished at public 
expense. Still, compared with what the town was 
then paying for labor on the roads, and with the 
ordinary going rates for mechanics' labor, it is 
probably as much money as the most of them 
would have earned at their regular vocations. A 
few of the men had no firearms, and no funds to 
buy any, and they were provided at the public ex- 
pense ; only fifteen of them in all, for in those days 
every farmer and mechanic owned some sort of a 
gun, and generally knew how to shoot fairly well 
with it. That was a point in which the rebels had 
a decided advantage over the King's troops, among 
whom marksmanship was considered no part of a 
soldier's qualifications. (Even since the American 
Civil War of less than forty years ago, a general 
ofificer of the English army has declared in print, 
in the pages of the United Service Gazette, that 
" all that is necessary for an enlisted man to know 
about shooting is to be able to point his gun 
straight in front of him, and pull the trigger.") 

Among the arms which the Province had caused 
to be deposited at Concord, General Gage's spies 
found here, as by their report to that commander, 
"fourteen pieces of cannon (ten iron and four brass) 
and two coehorns," or small mortars. Forty of the 
Town's soldiers were detailed "to learn the exercise 
of the cannon," and were called the Alarm Company. 
There is no separate list of their names, but I find 
one recorded reference to George Minott as Captain 



24 

of the Alarm Company, so I conclude that this 
company was not really of minute men, but was one 
of the regular militia companies of the town. They 
could not have learned much of the artillery exercise 
in the few weeks of late winter and early spring 
that were open to them, and, so far as I have been 
able to discover, none of the Concord names appear 
on the lists of " matrosses " in the army at Cam- 
bridge after the investment of Boston began. 

It was only two days before the fight at the 
bridge, that the Province Committee of Safety, then 
in session here, directed Colonel James Barrett to 
have two of the cannon mounted for use, and the 
others conveyed further into the country, and on 
the morning of the 19th four of them were hastily 
deported to Stow, and six of them were carried to 
the outer districts of the town and carefully con- 
cealed. It is a tradition that some of them were 
hidden on Colonel Barrett's farm by laying them in 
a furrow of a field that was being ploughed, and 
turning another furrow over on them, and that this 
operation was performed while the detachment of 
British soldiers that had been to search the Colonel's 
place were in plain sight of the field. Three of 
the largest guns, twenty-four pounders, perhaps too 
heavy to be quickly got out of the way, were 
captured by the British in the village and disabled, 
— but not so thoroughly that they could not be 
repaired. 

The existence of the organization of the Minute 
Men, as such, was short, though their enlistment was 
originally for the term of ten months. With the 
shutting up of General Gage's army in Boston and 



25 

the establishment of the siege of that place, their 
work was practically over. Their organization was 
plainly meant to be merely temporary, — to provide 
for a force of men who should remain in their own 
homes, and pursue their regular employments, but 
who should be ready at all times to meet the first 
alarm of danger and face the first shock of battle, 

— and nobly and bravely did they perform that duty, 
not only the Minute Men of Concord, but those of 
every other town in the Province. But for the 
tedious life in an established camp, — for the trying 
duty of keeping watch over a strong and resource- 
ful enemy and preventing his escape from the trap 
into which his own foolishness had led him, — for 
the hard practical conditions of a besieging army 

— there was needed a firmer and more military body, 
with more perfect organization and a more conven- 
tional standard of discipline. So the minute men 
gradually faded away, and even before the battle of 
Bunker Hill, only two months later, we find most 
of the commissions vacant and the companies largely 
broken up. A large part, indeed, much the larger 
part, of the men re-entered the service, but it was 
in newly constructed companies, and in very many 
cases with new officers. In the case of some com- 
panies, this change was almost imperceptible, and in 
all it appears to have been gradual, and it was not 
until the war was well advanced, certainly not until 
after the Northern campaign of 1777, that the 
"minute man" spirit and influence may be said to 
have finally lapsed. 

In the beginning of this paper, I spoke of some 
other Concord documents in Dr. Clark's collection. 



26 



They have nothing to do with the minute men or 
with the American revolution, but they are of some 
interest to us, nevertheless. One of them, the most 
valuable by far, was an original manuscript account 
of the celebrated Love well's Fight with the Indians 
at Pequawket in 1725, in the handwriting of Eleazer 
Melvin of Concord, who with six others from this 
place, of whom two were killed and two were 
wounded, had a conspicuous share in that disastrous 
battle. This is the only contemporaneous account 
of the fight, written by one of the participants, that 
has come down to our day. It has never been 
printed, and has been entirely unknown. It was 
doubtless the basis of the Rev. Thos. Symmes' uni- 
versally accepted historical account, for Mr. Symmes 
follows Melvin's manuscript verbatim in several 
pages. This paper also brought a fabulous price at 
the sale, and like the list of Captain Miles' minute 
men, is now forever out of our reach. Another paper 
that was in Dr. Clark's possession twenty-five years 
ago, was a portion of the records of the old District 
of Carlisle; these leaves turned up later in the 
Woburn Public Library, from which, I think, they 
have since been redeemed. 

All these papers were bought by Dr. Clark for a 
very small sum, from a Lowell junk dealer about 1863. 
At that time paper and paper-stock were enormously 
high; more than three times as much as before the 
war, and about twelve times as much as now. 
Country attics were rummaged by frugal and thrifty 
housewives, to whom the temptation of ten or twelve 
cents a pound for a lot of musty old letters and 
account books that had cluttered up the garrets for 



27 

years, was irresistible. There was mojiey in these 
old things, and the good, ignorant people never 
stopped to think, indeed, they did not know enough 
to think, that they might even have a higher value 
than for mere paper rags. Here and there was a 
junk man who did know something, or who had 
fallen in with some antiquary who had a liking for 
old documents, — and those junk men got rich. 
But for the most part the stuff was hauled away 
to the nearest paper mill and converted into pulp. 
It fairly brings the tears to one's eyes to think how 
many priceless documents, how much of the raw 
material of history, was irrecoverably disposed of in 
that way — and how little there is now left. 

All these papers of Dr. Clark's came in a lot 
of such stuff cleared out as waste paper from the 
house once occupied by John Hartwell, Clerk of 
Old Carlisle, and by several generations of his de- 
scendants. Captain Miles' muster roll is in the hand- 
writing of David Hartwell, orderly sergeant of the 
company, and son of this John. A Melvin marriage 
in the Hartwell tribe brought Captain Eleazer's 
account of the Lovewell Fight into the Hartwell 
house. This accounts for all these papers, and for 
their preservation down to the time they got into 
the hands of the Lowell junk man, whose acquaint- 
ance I am sorry not to have made thirty-eight years 
ago, as Dr. Clark found him a very valuable and 
profitable addition to his circle of acquaintance. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Hey wood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 



Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

Telepho7ie Co?inection. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor- 
Concord, Mass. 

OfF Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EftRL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1 747- 1 776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
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Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

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Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Battle, April 19, 1775. 

OLD NOBTH BiSDSE 
TOURIST SimiL 

Carriages with competent guides to 

meet all cars on Monument Square, 

the centre of all points of historic 

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Carriages may be ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
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have instructed the guides the associa- 
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gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, flass. 

J. W. CULL, rianager. 



MGMflNUS BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOAROi^G 

km SilLE STABLE 



Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, ss Mass. 

Opposite Fitchburg- Depot. 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BiCYCLES. 

SPOflTIIG aOODS 

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RENTING, REPAIRING 

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SHOP. AlONUMBNT ST., Telephone 14=5 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telephone 28-1 



At 



MISS BUCK'S 



MILLINERV AHD 

FMOY GOOflS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



TWO BOOKS by -nargaret Sidney/* 

Old Concord : Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, |2.oo. 

"One of the choicest souvenirs of the home and haunts of Emerson, 
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Little Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
Frank T. Merrill. $1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
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the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 
1 Antiqltarian 

B Society 



Hbe {Patriot ipres^ 

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vhich also prints 

^he Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
'he Erudite (monthly) 
'^oncord^ A Guide 
-one or d Authors at Home 

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Zbc ^own of Concert) 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
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* from the settlement of the 
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year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for $5 each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



WRIGHT'S TAVERN. 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN. 



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JONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

House on Lexington Road 

Containing a large collection of 

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is open every afternoon from May i to November i 

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MISSION 25 Cents 



WRIGHT'S TAVERN 



READ BE FOR H [HE 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 






CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, 1886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 

THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . President. 

SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. 



THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD S ^'" ^-^'■'^-^^• 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS, CONCORD. 



WRIGHT'S TAVERN, 



Dec. 2, 1901. 

It has happened ta me several times of late to be approached by 
inquirers on the subject of the Wright Tavern and its former owners 
and tenants. Perhaps this interest in what a gushing newspaper 
writer of last summer loftily calls "this ancient and historic edifice" 
may have been to some extent aroused by the signs with which the 
late enterprising tenant has so liberally bedecked the common high- 
ways leading to Concord, and the exceedingly surprising, if not 
strictly veracious placards that he has so artistically affixed to the 
exterior of the building itself. Perhaps, too, the tales with which trav- 
eling strangers are regularly filled up by the lively and imaginative 
young American citizens of exceedingly Irish descent, who turn their 
honest penny by leading transient visitors astray, and the inaccuracies 
of statement that the honest landlord has thrown in by way of dessert 
for the dinners he has furnished to guests who were inclined to 
"rubber" may have stimulated curiosity, and led to further inquiry. 

The gushing newspaper woman of whom I have spoken, spent the 
greater part of a week in Concord last summer, so as to get her in- 
formation at first hands, and save herself from making too many 
'»ad breaks in her really very interesting article. She learned that 
ihe old Wright Tavern was built in 1747, by one of the Wrights; that 
three generations of the family lived in it and kept it as an Inn; that 
on the demise of the latest Wright the property had come into the 



possession of the First Parish; and that it had since been occupied 
by various tenants, though never losing its status as a tavern, being 
thus the oldest of all possible taverns in the vicinity, putting the Way- 
side Inn at Sudbury entirely in the shade, because this latter had for 
many years been used merely as a dwelling house, and by this defec- 
tion had lost for a time its distinguishing character, j Fortunately I 
was able, although with some difficulty, to persuade the lady that there 
were some conspicuous inaccuracies in this little statement, histori- 
cally considered, and she was obliged to sacrifice just so much good 
"copy," with all the rhetorical frills and embroidery with which she 
had embellished this, its bare body of facts which were not so, and 
to fall back upon the stock bit of tradition anent Major Pitcairn and 
his unpleasantly nasty trick of stirring up his brandy and water with 
an unnecessarily bloody finger. The Major was an officer and a gen- 
tleman, and being such he probably carried a pocket handkerchief 
and might easily have wiped his finger on it, so I fancy that the word 
"bloody" in this highly important and delicate story, was used in a 
poetical or Pickwickian sense. 

It has occurred to me therefore, in view of the interest which I 
find concerning the history of the old building, that there are possibly 
a good many of us who know as little about it as do those who pur- 
vey local misinformation for inquiring strangers, and that so this 
"charming old hostelry" — this is a fine phrase, and I am delighted 
to quote it from my newspaper lady's entertaining article as it at 
length appeared in print — ^this "charming old hostelry," may furnish 
a point of departure for a short ramble in "historic Concord." ("His- 
toric Concord" is another good phrase; everybody has to use it at 
least once in writing about this town or anything in it, so I'll get it 
in here and get myself out of further temptation.) 
/ When the first settlers came to Concord two hundred and sixty-five 
years ago, they yoted that "the highway under the' hill be left four 



rods broad," and so, starting- under the hill, just after crossing Elm 
Brook, at what is now called Merriam's Corner, it followed along just 
on the edge of the firm ground, and parallel with the Mill Brook to 
the gap in the hill (now called Court Lane), and there turning due 
north it still followed under the hill until it came near the river, where 
it trailed off around the end of the high land, and so on in a sort of 
indecisive and half-hearted way to the Great Meadows. This was 
the road into the settlement, which was practically at a "dead end" 
of the line, since at first nobody wanted to go furtlier into the wilder- 
ness. But there was good land on the south side of the brook, and 
so at the point where the meadow was narrowest, and the brook was 
nearest both to the highway on the north side and the firm ground 
on the south side, the stream was bridged, and a new way laid out, 
paralleling the country road. Here again the natural conformation 
of the ground determined the place of the road, which, when it 
reached the end of the firm ground, where another rod in its original 
direction would have taken it down a fairly steep slope into a wet 
meadow, turned sharply to the left and wandered along the edge of 
the river valley. This was the road out of the settlement, that a little 
later, when the rivers should have been bridged, was to le<ad to Stow 
and Lancaster, and the boundless west. Between these two ways 
where they ran for a few hundred yards parallel to each other, in tlie 
exact centre of the six miles square which formed the Township, was 
reserved a plat of ground devoted to public uses, on which were 
planted the meeting house, the burying place, the stocks and the 
whipping post, those universally necessary instruments for caring for 
the souls and disciplining the bodies of the colonists. On the great 
'highway under the hill" east of this reservation, the housei lots were 
laid out, on both sides of the road, and bounded by the; top of the 
hiW on the one side and the brook on the other, while to the west of 
the reservation and still on the north side of the little stream, the land 



was set off to the Riev. Peter Bulkeley, the worthy spiritual leader 
of the people, who with his ghostly functions combined as well the 
more; material and earthly offices of capitalist and business manager. 
This land of Mr. Bulkeley's contained thirty-one acnes, and in his 
capacity as capitalist the Reverend gentleman agreed to erect thereon 
a mill for the grinding of corn. The natural conformation of the land 
settled inevitably the site of the dam. Placed as it was across the 
brook from the point where the road on the south side thereof made 
the abrupt turn to the left that I have spoken of, it held back the 
waters in the little square of unappropriated meadow land between 
the two parallel roads, and below the bridge by which the brook was 
spanned. The milldam was at first simply a dam and' nothing more, 
and it was no't until many years later that it became a highway as it 
is now; so many years indeed that in my boyhood the street was 
never called by any other name than "the Milldam," and even now the 
oldJ name still lingers lovingJy on the lips of the native-born. The 
mill, stood where Towle & Kent's store now stands, and a straight 
line from there to near the corner of Bedford street and Lexington 
road makes the boundary between the Rev. Mr. Bulkeley's grant and 
the town's reservation. The mill was built almost immediately after 
the settlers came, for it was less than four years after, that one "Wm. 
Fuller which kept ye miln at Concord" was fined £3 "for gross abuse 
in overtoaling," gaining thereby a certain sort of immortality, in that 
his long-departed ghost is even at this late day, awakened from its 
dusty retirement to hear again the tale of his rapacity. Thirty years 
later another miller became a little slack in the matter of taking his 
due toll, or of giving to his customers a just and certain weight of 
meal', and was warned by the constable to answer his negligence in 
the matter of scales and weights. 

By the terms of the contract with Mr. Bulkeley, as adjudged and 
confirmed by the Great and General Court as a result of a disagree- 



ment between the inhabitants of Concord and the widow of the Rev. 
Peter Rulkeley, the owners of llic mill were permitted to raise the 
water at the head of the pond to a depth of four feet ten inches, and 
obliged to arrange the "waste water way" so that the water should 
begin to run of¥ when it had risen to a depth of four feet seven inches. 
This "waste water way," or channel across the dam to get rid of the 
surplus water, seems to have occasioned, from time to time, several 
difficulties and disagreements. 

Another stipulation of the contract provided that "the owners of 
said mill forever shall enjoy privilege on the commons for clay and 
sand convenient for the repair of the mill danimage (i. e., the dam 
itself) from time to time." 

Shortly after the death of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley, his widow, 
Grace, removed to Connecticut, and conveyed to Capt. Timothy 
Wheeler and Geo. Wheeler this lot of thirty-one acres adjoining the 
town's reservation, and Capt. Timothy appears to have moved into 
her house, which stood nearly upon the site of the house now occu- 
pied by Mr. Wm. H. Brown. The aged Captain, dying in 1687, left 
(o the town a large part of this property, to be improved as a training 
field and for the use of the public schools. This bequest covered the 
land now covered by the Monument Square, and all between that 
and the brook, excepting the mill site. The late Middlesex Hotel, 
Leather Moriarty's house, and the Masonic Hall (formerly a school- 
ii.ouse), were in later years built on that part of the land that was 
'^acred to the schools, and Monument Square was the training field, 
so that, after Timothy Wheeler's death, the towti land extended in 
one direction from the line of the east side of the meeting house green, 
as it now stands, to the buildings now of the Colonial Hotel — ^and 
in the other direction from the top of the hill to the brook — with some 
small jogs of private holdings here and there, which need not be 
noticed here. On this land were, as I have said, the meeting house. 



8 

the town pound and the stocks, the burying ground, and later the 
town house and schoolhouse. Near the meeting house the proprie- 
tors of the mill were making full use of their privilege of taking out 
sand and gravd for repairing and strengthening their dam, perhaps 
with an idea of making of it a passable way across the brook, for it 
must have been inconvenient for anyone living in the North Quarter, 
or even in the middle of the town itself, to drive away round by Pot- 
ter's Lane to get his corn to mill, or for the rapidly increasing pop- 
ulation of the westerly part of the town to take the same circuitous 
route to meeting or to lecture. Still this process of widening the 
dam must have been a very gradual one, for I have seen a statem^ent 
of Miss Dinah Hosmer. who was born in 174T. and died in 1831, and 
who lived up in the westerly part of the town, that she remembered 
when it was the practice for those who came from that direction on 
Sundays, to stop their wagons at the mill, whence the women and 
children walked across the dam, while the drivers drove tihe horses 
away round by the bridge at the head of the pond. However, the 
townspeople became tired of the unsightly and even dangerous gravel 
pit that yawned at the very doors of their meeting house, and the 
matter of dispossessing the mill owners of their right to keep it open 
was (sometimes rather hotly) discussed. But "vested rights" are an 
uneasy thing to disturb, and the mill was still a great public necessity, 
though other mills were built in ofher parts of the town. The millers 
were the only sellers of flour or meal, and must not be ousted, except 
by giving them more than an equivalent, from the franchises that 
had been granted them. At length, however, a new gravel pit was 
opened in the side of the hill, and the mill owners were persuaded to 
seek their supplies of gravel there. (This pit finally cut entirely through 
the hill, and the material taken from it was used to build the causeway 
from the Square to Red Bridge, now known as the Lowell Road; 
but this conclusion did not come until 1793. The old gravel pit is 



now Bedford street.) Now having got the diggers away from in 
front of their meeting house it was up to the townsfolk to do some- 
thing with the hole they had made, — to fill it up again, or to cover 
it up, or to get somebody else to do so. Here was a first-class cellar 
hole, all dug to their hands, but the town needed no new public 
building, and so it was best to sell it at once to someone who would 
build on it, and this is what the town voted to do, and appointed 
a special committee to do at its meeting in May, 1747. This did n(ji 
take long, for the purchaser had already been found, and so we find, 
Libro. 89, folio 173, Mid'x Deeds, a conveyance dated June 2.2, 1747, 
in part as follows: 

"We, James Minott, Esq., Samuel Minott, Joseph Hubbard, John 
Jones, Joseph Wright, gent , Samuel Hey wood, and Nathl. Whitte- 
more, yeoman" (note the careful discrimination of Esq., Gentleman, 
Yeoman, and plain citizen who had no distinguishing mark), "all of 
Concord in the County of Midx, and Province of Massachusetts Bay 
in New England, a Committee chosen & appointed by the Town of 
Concord at their meeting the 18 day of May 1747, to make sale of a 
part of the broken ground in said Town, between the Training Field 
and the Waste-water so-called, for what we should judge reasonable, to 
be improved in such way and manner as to prevent the Training Field 
from wasting away, for and in consideration of thirty pounds old 
tcnour, to us in hand before the ensealing hereof paid by Ephraim 
Jones of said Concord, trader, as also an obligation from him the said 
F.phraim Jones to fill up a part of the remaining broken ground as il 
is marked out and agreed upon, do hereby in our said capacity sell 
& convey to him the said Ephraim Jones, his heirs, executors & 
assigns forever, a small piece of land at the aforesaid place, bounded 
as follows, viz; — beginning at a stake at the Northeasterly corner & 
leaving the highway full four rods wide, & running Southeasterly 6 
Rods & 7 ft. to a stake, — thence running Southwesterly 5 Rods to a 
stake, — thence running Northwesterly 5 Rods & an half to a stake,^ 
thence running Northeasterly about 6 Rods & ^ to the stake first 
mentioned, — to Have & to Hold" etc. etc. 

Now as you see, this bounds on the highway on only one side, and 
that is the four rod "highway under the hill," the original only high- 



10 

way of the Town. We may be sure then that there was yet no public 
way over the Milldam. 

This conveyance, it may be stated here, was not recorded at the 
registry until June 22, 1785, when Ephraim Jones had long been 
gathered to his fathers, and the property had changed hands many 
times. 

Ephraim Jones was a stirring and useful citizen of the Town, one 
who in his time played many parts, and apparently played them well. 
At the time of this purchase he was one of the Selectmen, an office 
which he held for one year, 1735-6, and again from 1744 to 1754, and 
during the last five years of this period was also Town Clerk. From 
1745 to 1750 he was annually chosen to represent the Town at the 
General Court, and again in 1753. During the holy war between the 
adherents of the Rev. Daniel Bliss and the malcontents who had gone 
away and flocked by themselves, and set up a new altar of their own, 
Mr. Jones remained loyal to the established order of things, and was 
cliosen in June, 1745, chairman of a Committee to oppose in the 
General Court (of which he was a member), the petition of Col. John 
Flint and others to be freed from paying any tax for the support of 
the ministrations of Mr. Bliss. He had, two or three years previously, 
been appointed on a similar committee to oppose just such another 
petition of Col. James Minott and others; lobbying, I suppose we 
should call it in these days. In neither case, however, were the seced- 
ers successful in getting released from the burden of supporting a 
ministry that they had lost respect for. In those days the established 
church in New England was as firmly seated as had been the estab- 
lished church in Old England, from whose demands and exactions, 
spiritual and financial, the New England Puritans had fled. Here, as 
there, dissent in matters of faith was to some extent overlooked, but 
dissent in the matter of paying the salary of the regular incumbent 
could not be tolerated. The pecuniary side of religion had to be 



^ 



11 

attended to, even though sonic merely spiritual aspects of the matter 
might be allowed to lapse. During Mr. Jones' service as Selectman 
he was ex-officio, also an assessor, and acted as Clerk of both boards, 
so that he was annually paid "for making y*^ invoice, writing out y^ 
tax lists and town warrants," etc., etc. He was a land-surveyor, and 
for many years was one of the committee to perambulate the town 
bounds, and renew the marks; assisted in the laying out of roads, and 
surveying of town lands. He was a "trader," that is, a shopkeeper, 
and some of his "bills rendered" to the Town are characteristic of the 
methods of the times. For instance, in the Town's accounts for the 
legal year 1745, we find:- 

"Then payd to Mr. Ephraim Jones by an 
order to Mr. Ebenezer Hubbard, Town Treasurer, for his taking care 
of y® Meeting House & y® Town House, sweeping 'um, & ringing y® 
town bell, till this day, being 23 months and one half, and repairing y® 
meeting house & town house, & finding materials for y^ same, & for 
iiis service as assessor, & for Clothing, Rum, Sugar, Molasses &c 
delivered for the use of the poor of Concord, & cash by him paid in 
behalf of y® town, & sundry other things, y® sum of £21-17-7 accord- 
ing toi old tenour, which together with £11-2-0 worth of the goods 
Sarah Temple died possessed of which he received after her death, 
according to said old tenour, is in full." 

That is to say, Sarah Temple, 
who was "on the Town," had died leaving a few pounds' worth of per- 
sonal property, which Mr. Jones as an overseer of the poor had dis- 
posed of, keeping the proceeds in his own hands to go towards the 
payment of his account against the Town. This is not exactly the 
modern method of bookkeeping, but it served at least to keep on the 
town's books a memorandum of the whole transaction. The Town 
was kind to its Poor in those days, for we see that besides clothing, 
&c, it furnished to them such further necessaries as Rum, — and sweet- 
ening for the same, — remembering, and following, good pious souls 
as they were, the injunctions of the wise King Solomon in that 



12 

respect. Speaking of Rum, we find that it cost 13s. 6d. "for Rum for 
raising the North Bridge" in 1744, and that Ephraim Jones furnished 
it and the Town paid for it, with no W. C. T. U. to raise even the 
faintest of protests. I find our versatile friend Jones again on the rec- 
ords as chosen by the Town one of a "Committee to new seat y® 
Meeting house, said Com.mittee to have respect to age, & to the last 
3 years pay both for real & personal estate, slaves excepted." The 
slaves you know had a little Jim Crow corner of their own. 

Well, — Capt.' Jones, for he was also a Captain in the Militia, having 
bought the bit of broken ground, proceeded at once to build on it, and 
opened an Inn in his new house possibly before the close of the year 
1747, certainly before the meeting of the Selectmen in March, 1748. 
Of his merits or of his success as an Innholder we know not, but it is 
certain that he did not keep the house very long, for on the 26 Nov. 
1 75 1 he sold out the business and the real estate to Thomas Munroe, 
who promptly entered into possession. Just 5 years later Capt. Jones 
died leaving an estate of £200 personal & £560 real, a considerable 
estate for those days. 

Thomas Munroe, the new landlord, came to Concord from Lexing- 
ton in 1730, when he married Mary, daughter of John Bateman. 
Jonathan Ball was at that time a tavern keeper in Concord, living 
nearly opposite the meeting house, on the spot now covered by the 
house once occupied by Charles B. Davis, and later by Charles H. 
Walcott. John Bateman purchased of him about 57 square rods at 
the easterly end of the lot, and thereupon built for his daughter 
and her husband the house in which in our time the late Joel 
W. Walcott resided, and which is now occupied by Mrs. M. G. 
Brown and her bevy of daughters. In this house, then just built, 
Thomas Munroe set up an Inn, and his neighbor Jonathan Ball went 
out of the tavern business altogether. Munroe's became the leading 
tavern of the town, and from the time it was opened, in 1730, the 



13 

Selectmen held their reg'ular meetings there, until in 1748 they 
changed over to Jones's; Jones had a pull with the hoard of course, 
being himself a member of it. When Jones sold out to Munroe, 
the patronage of the Town fathers went with the business, and 
thereafter until Munroe's death in 1766, the records of the meetings 
of the town officers again begin with the familiar opening, "The 
Selectmen of Concord met at the dwelling house of Thomas Mun- 
roe, Innholder, in said town." This was no unimportant part of a 
tavern's patronage. The Selectmen were also Assessors and Over- 
seers of the Poor, and in one capacity or another found it necessary 
to meet often. There were warrants to be drawn for four town- 
meetings at the least, every year, and as for assessors' meetings, 
they were too numerous almost to count. There was the Town 
Rate, the Ministers' Rate, the County Rate, the Province Rate, and 
every now and then a special tax for some purpose or another, each 
of which was assessed separately, and lists thereof given to the 
Constables to collect. The Selectmen were not paid anything for 
their services, but at each meeting they ate and drank li'berally, as 
was eminently proper. Then there were visiting Committees oc- 
casionally from other Towns or from the Great and General Court 
to be entertained, and always the Selectmen audited their own 
accounts, so that there was no demur as to expenses. This prac- 
tice of the Selectmen meeting at the Tavern and being "enter- 
tained" at the expense of the Town was universal in those days. 
In Concord it was maintained until the year i860, or possibly later, 
and in Boston, to this day, no member of the City Government ever 
thinks of dining on terrapin and champagne at his own expense, 
when the City can be counted on to pay for beans and beer. 

On taking possession of the Jones Tavern, Munroe sold out his 
old establishment on the Bay Road to Seth Ross, who came here 
from Billerica, and for some years maintained it as a tavern with 
no great success. 



14 

Mr. Munroe was not so pushing- or so versatile a man as his 
predecessor, Ephraim Jones. He was chosen Constable in 1741 
and served for one year, a service of responsibility not often 
sought, and indeed generally accepted by the person who was 
elected thereto, principally because there was a fine of £5 for re- 
fusing to serve, which fine was rigorously exacted. He also was 
Hogreeve for one year, an office always unsought, to which a man 
was not led by ambition or by hope of preferment, but which was 
rather the public and heartfelt testimonial tendered by his fellow- 
citizens to every man who had deserved and won it by getting mar- 
ried within the year next previous to his election. With these 
two honorable exceptions he held no public office, but he was once 
chosen as a member of a "Committee to inspect the seats in the 
meeting-house, and to use proper methods to prevent persons ir- 
regularly taking possession of seats wherein other persons were 
orderly seated," that is, where they had been ordered to sit. 
Democratic as the New England people were, the caste spirit 
was still very strong, and nowhere stronger than in the churches, 
and in Harvard College. 

You know that in the catalogue of the College the names of 
the students were arranged, not alphabetically as now, nor even 
according to scholarship, but solely according to the social stand- 
ing, or caste, of the parents. In the meeting-houses the seating 
committee were to make the amount of tax paid for the past 3 
years (or since the seating was last arranged), the "criterion to 
go by" in allotting the places. So, after the places had been duly 
ordered, if any poor, low-down sinner tried to crowd himself 
in among his betters, nearer to the altar than he belonged, he 
was bidden to "go way back and sit down." I have heard that — 
but "that is another story." Capt. Ephraim Jones, as we have 
seen, was for many years caretaker of the meeting-house and 
ringer of the bell, and Capt. Munroe (for he also was a Captain) 



15 

served for many years in the same capacity, — but we are not to 
infer that there was any necessary connection between the offices 
of landlord of the tavern and sexton of the church, even thouj^h 
the same connection has occurred again of recent years. Munroe 
made several attempts to induce the Town to sell him a little 
more land, which really he greatly needed, for the original lot con- 
tained only about 45 square rods, but he succeeded only in getting 
the temporary possession of a small strip, by a vote of the Town 
that he "have liberty to move the pound 5 ft. Northeasterly, upon 
condition of underpinning it properly with stones when it is re- 
moved, he to have liberty of improving the land on the Southwest 
side which it is removed from, till the Town shall order other- 
wise." 

This shows that the Town Pound, which had at first been situ- 
ated on the other side of the Meeting-house green, near the red 
house now standing there, had before 1754 been removed, and this 
fact of its removal settles several very puzzling questions of 
bounds and locations in recorded deeds of property thereabout. 
So Thomas Munroe lived his life, leaving but very few and faint 
"footprints on the sands of time," turning in his little annual 
account for "entertaining y^' Selectmen" and an occasional bill of 
a few shillings for "Rum for y^" poor" or "for sundry persons on 
y*^ town's account," and apparently not making a living out of it, 
for when he died in 1766, he was hopelessly insolvent, his whole 
estate footing up only about £125, and his debts £161. He had 
long ago mortgaged his house to Deacon Thomas Barrett, and had 
spent the proceeds, so as soon as he was decently buried and an 
administrator of his estate appointed, the mortgagee sold the 
house to Daniel Taylor, who at once entered thereon, and kept 
the inn agoing. 

Of Daniel Taylor as a landlord or as a citizen I find but few 
traces. He was elected Hogreeve in 1767 and had a child 'born to 



( 



16 

him in June of that year, from which I infer that he was married 
in 1766. In Nov., 1767, he was paid "for entertaining y^ Select- 
men from Sept. 1766, to this date," and as his deed from Thomas 
Barrett was dated Sept. 15, 1766, we may be fairly sure that that 
was the date of his entering into possession. Thereafter in March 
of each and every year until March, 1775, he is paid a similar 
claim for the year last past, which proves plainly enough that he 
kept the inn until, or nearly until, that time. Then he seems to 
have relinquished the business to Amos Wright, or perhaps he only 
put him in as a clerk or temporary substitute until he could find a 
purchaser for the property. On Dec. 20, 1775, Taylor conveyed 
the estate by a warranty deed to Samuel Swan of Charlestown, 
peruke-maker, and the deed was recorded in April, 1776. In 
March, 1776, the customary bill for entertaining the Selectmen 
during the year last past was paid to Capt. Joseph Butler, who had 
bought out the old inn on the Bay Road, that Ross had purchased 
from Munroe. All this goes to prove that Amos Wright, the only 
Wright who ever kept Wright's Tavern, was at most only a 
tenant and could not possibly have been its landlord at that time 
for much more than twelve months. But that twelve months 
included the one day in which Concord made more history than 
she ever did before or since. 

Amos Wright seems to have been a man who had no salient 
points whatever, nothing to get hold of him by except that he 
had two wives, and was the father certainly of fourteen, and 
probably of fifteen, children. One of his daughters became the 
wife of Ephraim Farrar, Jr., and was the grandmother of Mr. 
Willard T. Farrar. In April, 1775, she was about 13 years old, 
and was living with her parents at this tavern, and it is princi- 
pally from her recollection of that fact and of some of the incidents 
of the 19th, told to her descendants in later years, that we 
know it was Amos, rather than any other Wright, who kept the 
inn ; though as a matter of history, we can get the same fact 



1 



17 

by showing-, throuoli a process of elimination, that there was no other 
possible VVrig-ht in the town at that time. 

Amos is referred to once or twice in recorded documents, as a 
laborer, and I can find no record that he ever owned a foot of real 
estate. He was paid "for keeping school in Darby's Socie*^-"- -that is 
to say in the Concord Junction neighborhood, in the winters of 1769- 
70-71-72-73, — and again in the winters of 1776 and '']'], which leaves 
a gap in his school teaching just sufficient to cover the exact time 
when we find him acting as an innkeeper. 

I cannot find that Mr. Wright was ever enrolled among the 
minutemen, or that he did any military duty during the war of the 
Revolution, excepting that once in the year 1777 he was called out to 
cissist in guarding certain military stores and supplies at Concord, I 
fancy a part of the stuff that had been issued to the Company that 
marched under John Buttrick to the campaign against Burgoyne, and 
that the Company had brought back unused. However, from March, 
1782, until the day of his death, 6 Nov., 1792, he is always called 
"Captain" in the records of the Town. As to the Tavern itself on the 
great day when it leaped into history, we know a little, and we can 
fancy as much more as our imaginations are capable of. We know 
•Jiat early in the morning when the Minutemen first met on the com- 
mon, they made the Wright Tavern their headquarters, to which in 
case of an alarm being given of the near approach of the British sol- 
diers, they were to repair immediately for orders: that Capt. Smith 
coming in with a part of his company from Lincoln, reported there, 
and that after the retreat to the other side of the river, Col. Smith of 
the loth Ikitish Reg't established his headquarters in the place just 
vacated by the rebel conmianclers. What the British officers did there 
or what they said there, then, or later in the day when they consulted 
nmong themselves as to the expediency or the feasibility even of giv- 
ing up the enterprise and returning to Boston is entirely matter for 



18 

the imagination, since there is not a tradition even. We can be fairly 
sure that Major Pitcairn did not drink alone, though we may (or may 
not) grant him the solitary distinction of sticking a dirty finger into 
the beverage. We may fancy, too, that some of the Yankee officers, 
and soldiers, too, for that matter, took a nip or two in the time they 
ivere waiting for Capt. Reuben Brown's return from Lexington, to 
keep the chill air of the early April morning from striking to their 
bones and making their teeth chatter. But these are fancies, — for the 
poet and the story-teller,^ — not facts for the sober historian. I think 
tve may accept the story that Capt. Smith of Lincoln came up on 
horseback, and left his fiery charger in Wright's stable, only to find, 
later in the day, that the beast had been appropriated by the invaders 
for the use of a wounded officer in the retreat. That the sacramental 
filver of the church was hastily taken into Wright's as soon as the 
soldiers came in sight, and dumped into the family soft-soap barrel, 
from which it was taken twenty-four hours later, so thoroughly black- 
ened by the caustic stuf^f that it had to be reburnished by a silver- 
smith, is not only a pleasing and graphic incident that may well be 
accepted as true, — but it is also a fine testimonial to the strength and 
sincerity of the domestic brand of soap manufactured by our great- 
grandmothers. I always did like that little story, and should be sorry 
to let it pass into the realm of fable without protest, for it is so artless 
and ingenuous in its recognition of the prevalent feeling with regard 
to an invading soldiery — that they were much more likely to rob a 
church than to meddle with a soap barrel. For the rest, we may draw 
for ourselves such pictures as we may of the little tavern during the 
exciting hours of the forenoon of that April day, with officers and 
orderlies reporting to their superiors, and running with orders to the 
various little detachments that were engaged in the work of destruc- 
tion. We may imagine Col. Smith issuing from the Tavern, when 
^apt. Laurie from the bridge sent to him for reinforcements, and put- 



Id 

ting himself at the head of the battaHon he had caused to be recalled 
from their depredation, "by which means" (wrote an officer of the 4th 
or King's Own Reg't), "he stopt 'em from being time enough; for 
being a very heavy man, he would not have reached the Bridge in half 
an hour, tho' it was not half a mile to it." And when, after their 
various marchings and countermarchings in the village, of which the 
Rev. Mr. Emerson's diary tells us, the hostile column had withdrawn, 
and after the reports of the muskets at Merriam's Corner and beyond 
had ceased, and the sounds of battle had died away in the distance, we 
may be sure that the women and the children crowded into the tav- 
ern, and with their shrill and excited questionings still further vexed 
the soul and tried the patience of poor Amos Wright, — for somehow 
I can only think of him as a quiet, inofifensive and somewhat retiring 
man, who had hitherto been engaged in the mild and gentle occupa- 
tion of teaching little children their a-b-abs, rather than as the bus- 
tling, hearty, florid, effusive person who generally plays the part ot 
landlord in drama and in historical novel. We may be sure that in 
the days that followed the fight, the little tavern was a centre of gossip, 
and that, if the invaders had perchance not drunk up the whole of the 
landlord's supply of comfortable fluids, the modicum yet remainmg 
in bar and cellar found ready and thirsty purchasers, for it is pro- 
verbial that "talking is dry work;" and that though another Ephraim 
Tones had by this time arisen, and was keeping another tavern, where 
he too had had his experiences with the soldiers of the King, there 
was probably gossip enough and rum enough to keep both houses 
busy, and we hope profitable. 

This new Ephraim Jones, T may say in passing, was son of the 
Ephraim who built our tavern on the broken ground in 1747. After 
he sold out to Munroe he built a new house just above the graveyard 
on Main street, which m.any of us remember as Bigelow's Tavern. T 
find no evidence that he kept it as an inn, but his son, of the same 



20 

name, did, and was also keeper of the gaol which stood close by. 

As we have seen, Amos Wright could not have held the house later 
than 20 Dec, 1775, at which time it was conveyed by Daniel Taylor 
to Samuel Swan, who also purchased the stock and furniture. Mr. 
Swan was of Charlestown, where his house and shop had been burned 
on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill. He is styled "perukemaker" 
in the deed, but Wyman is ungentlemanly enough to give him the 
more plebeian title of "barber," — which he probably was, for it is the 
habit of most men of that profession to aspire to a more euphonious 
title, — ever since Mr. Pickwick's barber rose to a point of order as to 
whether there was not such a word as 'airdresser in the dictionary, 
and Mr. Weller ruled that it was proper, even if the individual were 
not an 'airdresser, "to be parJymentary, and call him one all the 
more." He was related to the Kettells, who came from Charlestown 
about that time or soon afterward. There were three brothers, Wil- 
liam, John and Thomas, and their three sisters, one of whom became 
the wife of Deacon John White, and another the wife of John Tho- 
reau, grandfather of Henry D. Thoreau. The other sister some of us 
remember as "Polly Kittle," for she died only a little over half a cen- 
tury ago, at the age of more than 90 years. The Kettells were bakers 
by occupation, and they too had lost house and shop by the burning 
of Charlestown. 

When Swan came into possession of our little tavern, there was on 
the Northwesterly side of the building a sort of pent-house whose use 
I do not know. This he removed, and in its place built the wing or 
L in which is now the tavern's dining room. This was built some fif- 
teen feet longer than it now is, the end having been cut ofif to widen 
the street in 1882. On the I.exington road side it was, as now, on 
the street level, but on the opposite side and on the end it was two 
full stories in height. The street has since been raised so that the 
lower story of this new wing has become a cellar. In this lower story 



21 

an oven was built, and the Kettell Brothers started a bakery there, 
while their uncle, Sani'l Swan, kept up the tavern in the old house. 

The Selectmen still continued to hold their meetings there, — or 
rather, resumed the practice after one year of using Capt. Butler's 
house, — and their bills for entertainment show eloquently the rise in 
l^riccs brought about by the continental money inflation. For in- 
stance, in April, 177S, Mr, Swan was paid ;£2i-8-ii; a year later 
£73-1 S-t: the next year £108-13-6. Then it became (luite useless to 
make charges on a running account in paper money, for a bowl of 
punch charged at 4s. in March, 1780, would come to be worth los. 
before it was paid for in March, 1781, so the prices for that year were 
(]Uoted in silver, and the bill only mounted to £18-10, — and even at 
that, it included some articles furnished to the poor. In his account 
for 1783 I find a charge for boarding Submit Flag 44 weeks £5-2-8, 
or 2s. 8d. per week. Submit was one of the town's poor that he had 
bought at auction, for it was then the custom to put up the poor, 
individually, at an annual vendue, the lowest bidder in any case to 
take the pauper, at his own risk of sickness or disability, and at his 
own profit on w*hat labor the unfortunate might be able to do. 

In 1785 Mr. Swan gave up the tavern as an unprofitable venture, 
and returned to his native Charlestown. The old house was no longer 
what it had been; a newer and vastly more commodious inn had been 
built under its very windows, and then there was Ephraim Jones run- 
ning a popular house only a few rods up the main street, wath more 
accommodation for travelers and their a.nimaJs, and the Tavern which 
bad been for nearly forty years the centre of the business and political 
and social interests of the Town, had now become a back number. 

But the old place was yet to see another landlord before its use 
as a tavern should be completed, and Amos Wright gave up his 
winter scholastic occupation in "Darby's Society," and his sum- 



22 

mer farming labors, and came back there as a tenant of Samuel 
Swan. But his tenancy has left no trace whatever on the records 
of Concord. The Selectmen held their meetings and took their 
regular or occasional "entertainment" at the new establishment 
across the way, and the Town paid no money to Amos Wright 
for any of these things. There is no record to be found in Town 
or County books, that he even had a license as an innholder to keep 
and sell beer or spirits. This, of itself, proves nothing, for many 
of such licenses do not appear on the permanent records of the 
Courts ; though we can hardly imagine a country inn of those 
days without these essential creature comforts. Neither do I Hnd 
his name as an innholder in the pages of any of the Almanacks of 
that time that I have seen. It was then quite the custom to print 
in the back pages of the almanack, a table of the principal routes 
of travel from Boston to all parts of New England, and in this 
table were included the names of the inns at which the thirsty 
travellers could obtain temporary relief on their journeys, the dis- 
tance between these life-saving stations being carefully stated, so 
that the wayfarer could calculate with some exactness the length 
of the time between drinks. 

Tradition is as silent as is record, as to this second tenancy of 
Amos Wright. One of his daughters was married in the old 
house, and he himself died there in 1792. That the tavern was 
profitable as a business venture, we may be permitted to doubt, for 
he left no estate that was thought worth administration. His 
widow is said to have remained for a short time in the house after 
his decease, until in 1793, it was sold to Capt. Reuben Brown, 
never again to be used as an inn until almost a century later. 

Capt. Reuben Brown had come to Concord from Sudbury about the 
year 1760. He was by occupation a saddler, and lived in the house 
now owned and occupied by this Society, where he reared a large 



i3 

family of children, and where he died in 1832 at the age of 84. He 
bought, sold, and lent money upon, very many parcels of real property 
in Concord, and appears to have taken on this particular piece as a 
temporary investment. 

Francis Jarvis, who had learned the trade of a baker from John 
Richardson of Watertown, and when the latter removed to Concord 
and took to keeping the new tavern that had arisen so close to the 
old one that it fairly shouldered it out of its business, had accompanied 
his old master in his new home and his new occupation. But in 1790, 
in company with Thomas SafTord, he resumed the trade of baker, and 
hired from Sam'l Swan the shop and ovens in the basement of the 
old tavern, where the Kettell's had been. In 1793 the new firm bought 
the whole building, and later in the same year Mr. Jarvis married and 
set up his housekeeping therein. In 1795 he bought out Mr. SafTord's 
part of the business and of the house. Ten years later he formed 
another business partnership with a son-in-law of Reuben Brown, and 
opened a general country store, which was located at first in the wing 
of his house, over the bakeshop, and later in the "green store" oppo- 
site, the Kettells at the same time resuming, as tenants, the baking 
business that they had originally established. Two years afterward 
Mr. Jarvis came back to his bakery, and carried it on until 1824, when 
he was succeeded by his son Francis, who kept it up until 1831, when 
the house and business were finally disposed of, and th^ family moved 
away to the farm now occupied by Mr. Joseph Derby. 

From that time the house was rented as a tenement, generally to 
two families, and the list of tenants, even if we could get at the names 
of the whole of them, would be of little interest. Silas Burgess lived 
there and kept a livery stable in the old barn, and was followed in the 
same business by James M. Billings some fifty years ago. The bakery 
was maintained for some years, I think until within my own recoUec- 



tion. The store in the L was tenanted by various persons, in various 
lines of trade. Capt. John Stacy had a book store and bindery there 
for many years, and later, along in the fifties, Joe Parks had a tin- 
smith shop there; one of the Winns sold shoes; Frank Potter and his 
son Billy made and put up literally wagon loads of their celebrated 
hair-balm in those days of my youth when no one was fit to go into 
society unless his hair was greased, and when chairs were draped with 
fearful "tidies," and sofas were pulled out from the walls of the par- 
lors, to save the house-paper from contact with our anointed heads. 
Somewhere about twenty years ago, the old house reverted again to 
its original use as an inn, — but with a difference. Not, as at first, the 
meeting-place of the Selectmen, and the great centre of the village, 
the local exchange where farmers came with their wood and potatoes 
to selJ, or where they swapped gossip, or traded horses, or retailed 
each the political or business concerns of his own deestric while the 
lazy little mill at the other side of the brook slowly drizzled out, with 
much clatter, the attenuated stream of meal they were waiting for; 
not, as once, the warm and hospitable refuge in which the good folk 
found relief, in the short hour's nooning between meetings, of a Sun- 
day, from the penetrating cold of an unwarmed and all too well venti- 
lated meeting house, and filled up their little foot-stoves with fresh 
coajs, and their little insides with a nice warm beverage, to fortify 
themsdves against the renewed chill of the afternoon worship; not, as 
of yore, the place where dusty and tired travelers took their needed 
rest in the middle of a venturesome and tedious day's ride of full twenty 
miles; or where humbler wayfarers paid 3 pence for a breakfast, or 
6d. for a dinner. Nor yet, as it has since become by the natural law of 
development, the resting place of wandering bicyclists, of curious and 
credulous tourists and sightseers, or of the brisk and busy drummer 
of retail trade. But of its later landlords it is not well nor necessary 



25 

to say much. There was Seth Stone, who sold surreptitious and un- 
lawful beverages, of an almost unheard of degree of badness, to those 
who knew the password and countersign, in what had once been 
Deacon Jarvis's bakeshop. There was Penniman, who having once 
kept the Town's poorhouse, was imagined by some of his well-inten- 
tioned fellow citizens to be thereby all the more fitted to keep a hotel, 
and so, partly by means of a public subscription, was installed as 
Boniface, and stayed there until the place became "a hissing and re- 
proach." There was Ward, who did nothinp- particular, whether good 
or bad, as far as I have ever heard, and honest John Davis, who tried 
ever so hard and patiently, only to demonstrate anew that the hotel- 
keeper, like the poet, has to be "born, not made," and that he was not 
born that way. Tlien there was "Billy" Rand, who was really ambi- 
tious, and fairly rehabilitated the old place, gaining there the experi- 
ence and the reputation that made it easy for him to take upon himself 
a larger charge. And at last the saturnine and majestic Tarlton, who, 
despite of his peculiar and not always quite attractive placards and 
signs, and his primitive notions of beautv of decoration, has doubtless 
kept a good house and served his customers to their full satisfaction, 
since he carries with him on his retirement a flattering certificate to 
that effect from his grateful townsmen. 

But all these later landlords belong to modern history, — not anti- 
quarian, — and we must pass them by without further comment. 

As to the house itself, it remains only to be said, that when it was 
in the market some twenty years or more ago, the late Reuben N. 
Rice and T"dge Hoar united in its purchase, in order to save it from 
fnlling into worse hands, and from duplicating on that corner of the 
meeting-house green the undesirable and peculiar features of the "old 
yellow block," on the other corner. Mr. Rice bequeathed to the par- 
ish his half of the property, and Judge Hoar also gave his half, and 
the bequest and the gift were accepted and gratefully acknowledged 



26 

by the parish at its annual meeting in 1886. It will never be sold, but 
will stand until fire destroys it, or it falls into its cellar by its own 
natural decay, and through all succeeding years will continue to bear 
the name of the landlord who kept it in the day when it became 
part of the history of Concord, and who afterward participated 
in its "decline and fall," — Wright's Tavern. 



Battle, April 19, 1775. 

OLD NORTH BRIDGE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages with conipcicnt guides to 

meet all cars on Monument Square, 

tlie centre of all points of historic 

interest: 

Carriages may he ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
lecting antiques with a local history, 1 
have instructed the guides the associa- 
tion o( the points of interest, which 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, flass. 

J. W. CULL, Hanaser. 



MGMftNUS BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
SALE STABLE 



Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Cjncord, - Mass. 

Opposite Fitchburg Depot 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES. 

SPORTiriG GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

KHNTiNG, REPAIRING 

AND TEACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
your Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, [ohn 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

bHOP, MONUMENT ST., Telephone 14-5 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telephone 28-4 



At 



MISS BUCK'S 



MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St, opposite the Bank. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 
Thoreau Penholders, 1 5c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 

Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 

For sale by 

H.S. RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 

Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 
Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLE HON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

HOLLIS S. HOWE, 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Hey wood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 



Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

Telephone Connection. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor. 
Concord, Mass. 

Off Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1 747- 1 776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards. 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



At... 
HOSMER^S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 

may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 
GUIDE BOOKS 

and books by 

CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 




Druggist. 


The Colonial, 




Monument Square, 


Huyler's Candies 


Concord, Massachusetts. 


Souvenir Postal Cards 






V^ILLIAM E. RAND, 


Photographs, etc. 


Proprietor. 


Concord, - Mass. 





TWO BOOKS by **nargaret Sidney." 

Old Concord : Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, $2.00. 

"One of the choicest souvenirs of the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

"It is written in a style as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's ' Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 

Little Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
Frank T. Merrill. $1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famousNorth Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 
such a story as young people like ; as the founder of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

are from 

JTbc ipatriot prces 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

The Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
"The Erudite (monthly) 
Concordy A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 



^bc ZTown of Concor^ 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
AND DEATHS 

from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for ^5 each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



9HI 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN ^OC,]V,t\ 




CONCORD AND THE TELEGRAPH. 



BY ALFRED MUNROE. 






♦*A truly great historical novel." — Omaha World-Herald. 

THE COLONIALS 

By j^^-llekt Fm^isrcH: 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has written a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few w^eeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle siys : 
*• It is seldom that we are favored with so strong, so symmpt- 
rical, so virile a work ... a work of romantic fiction of 
an order of merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 

Price PFith Colonial Decorations $L50 



The Furniture of Our Forefathers 

By I^STHItlR SIJSTGLETOjST 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which are in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net. Write for prospectus. 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, N.y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

House on Lexington Road 



Containing a large collection of 

LOCAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RELICS, CHINA, 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 

is open every afternoon from May i to November 
at which times the Secretary will be 
in attendance 



Admission 25 Cents 




\ 



HARRISON GRAY DYAR 

From a photograph taken about 1866 



CONCORD AND THE TELEGRAPH 



READ BEFORE THE 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 
January 6, 1902. 



BY ALFRED MUNROE 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

Established September, 1886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 

THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . Preudent. 

SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. . . • ) ,^. o -^ . 
_ _ > Vice Presidents, 



THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS, CONCORD. 



CONCORD AND THE TELEGRAPH. 



The invention of and tlie improvements in the electric telegraph 
are often referred to as among the greatest wonders of the nineteenth 
century. Its early history is interesting as tending to illustrate the 
familiar fact that original inventors do not always receive the credit 
that is their due, and often fail to reap any pecuniary benefit from their 
inventions. Such is the case with regard to the electric telegraph, in 
this country at least, as what I have to record will, I think, very 
clearly show. 

To. Prof. .S. F. B. Morse is undoubtedly due very great credit for 
improvements in the electric telegraph, but that he is entitled to fame 
as its original inventor is preposterous to assume, and in view of some 
facts in the early history of the invention, it seems doubtful if he is 
really entitled to all the honors that have been heaped upon him as an 
inventor, even in this country. Several notable experiments had been 
made in England prior to anything that Prof. Morse had attempted. 
As early as the year 1816, Francis Ronalds had invented a method of 
sending messages by electricity over a line of eight miles, which 
though rather complicated, was, as far as it went, completely success- 
ful. He made use of a clock at each station, both running eixactly to- 
gether, and each bringing into view one after another, the letters of 



the alphabet arranged upon a disk which revolved behind a screen 
with an opening showing one letter at a time, and thus spelling out 
the word. 

The Abbe Morigno states that one Mr. Jackson wrote to the Acad- 
emic Francaise, affirming that he (Mr. Jackson) had communicated 
the plan of the telegraph to Mr. Morse, while on board the ship Sully 
in 1832. Mr. Jackson certainly discussed the matter with Mr. Morse, 
at that time and place, but that the latter derived all of his ideas from 
him must be considered doubtful, I think, in the light of more posi- 
tive evidence in connection with another individual. But more of 
that hereafter. Even admitting all that was claimed by either party, 
it would only show that they did not think sufficiently well of their 
scheme to take any steps towards putting it in practice until nearly 
three months after the first English patent for an electric telegraph 
had been sealed, and the practicability of such an apparatus had been 
demonstrated in England by Prof. Wheatstone, to whom a patent was 
granted. 

But we are not here considering the English claims, but those of 
Prof. Morse, to priority. The electric telegraph, even in its earliest 
days, was not the work or the invention of any one man, and perhaps 
least of all,' of the man who has had the lion's share of the credit, and 
whose name rises first to our lips when we speak of it. More than 
fifty years ago. Prof. Joseph Henry of the Smithsonian Institution, a 
scientist and electrician whose fame is equalled only by Michael Fara- 
day among his contemporaries, said: — (Evidence, Smith vs. Down- 
ing-) 

'T am not aware that Mr. Morse has ever made a single original 
discovery in electricity, magnetism, or electro-magnetism, applicable 
to the invention of the telegraph. I have always considered his merit 
to consist in combining and applying the discoveries of others, in the 
invention of a particular instrument and process for telegraph pur- 
poses." 



But it is not generally known that among the earliest of those 
"others" whose discoveries Mr. Morse combined and applied was a 
young man once resident in this town, and that at least eighteen years 
before the actual materialization of the first Morse telegraph line, a 
message had been transmitted over half a mile of wire, in Conccjrd, 
by means that in many respects are identical with those employed by 
Morse. 

From the year 1818 until about 1825 there were two young men, 
brothers, named Dyar, living here. Joseph, the elder of the two, 
married Love Lawrence Brooks in 1819, and was employed by Lem- 
uel Curtis, Clock and Watch Maker, on the Mill dam, about where 
the fruit store now is. The younger brother (he was born in March 
1805), was named Harrison Gray, and after a year or two in school, 
was apprenticed to Curtis. Their schoolmates and contemporaries 
here are long since dead, but one of them (the late Dr. Edward Jar- 
vis), nearly twenty-five years ago wrote of them as having been very 
bright and intelligent lads, "skilful in their trade and of faultless char- 
acter, but were much talked of for their fondness for dress, especially 
so, being mechanics." Harrison Gray was considered by the boys to 
be a real genius. It is said that when only twelve years old he had 
performed many of the most important experiments in chemistry, and 
mastered most of the principles of the science as they were then 
known. While living in Concord he became greatly interested in the 
study of electricity, and conceived the idea of transmitting a message 
over a w ire by means of the electric fluid. By intense study and many 
experiments he finally concluded that he had made the discovery as 
to how it could be done, and proved it by a successful experimental 
line along the "Causeway," now the Lowell Road. Then he exhibited 
his plans or ideas to some persons in Boston and elsewhere in this vi- 
cinity, but he was received by those who might have assisted him. 
only with laughter and ridicule. Though somewhat disheartened he 



was not wholly discouraged. He determined, however, to leave for 
New York, where he hoped he be more successful in carrying out 
his project, and where he soon found some parties who joined him in 
his enterprise. And here comes in the important fact that Harrison 
Gray Dyar erected the first real line, and despatched the first message 
over it by electricity ever sent by such means in America. This may 
seem strange to most of our readers, as the credit of this great dis- 
covery has been generally conceded to Prof. Morse. 

Mr. Dyar erected his line at the race-course on Long Island in 
1826, — six years before Morse began his investigation of the subject, 
ten years before the latter began to talk about it, and eighteen years 
before he and others put up their experimental line between Washing- 
ton and Baltimore in 1844. 

Shortly after Mr. Dyar had made this experiment on Long Island, 
he proposed to erect a telegraph line between New York and Phila- 
delphia, and applied to the Legislature of New Jersey for the neces- 
sary powers to pass through that State. This request was not only 
unceremoniously refused, but Mr. Dyar was denounced as a wizard 
and a dangerous person to be permitted in the community. Vexed, 
disappointed and almost disheartened, the original projector was act- 
ually driven from his home and country, and found refuge in Europe, 
where his scientific abilities were appreciated, and fully rewarded by 
the accumulation of large wealth. After the success of the telegraph 
he returned to this country, too late to claim what was justly his due, 
for the time prescribed by law to procure a patent had expired. Still, 
with characteristic unselfishness, he refused at first to go before a 
court and testify in a case where Mr. Morse had prosecuted for in- 
fringement. __ 

With respect to his being obliged to leave this country, the expla-'" 
nation is this. He had employed som_e assistants in getting up his 
line, and when it was up and promising success, one of these assistants 



(to extort a concession of a sliarc in the patent) conur.cnccd a suit 
against Mr. Dyar, claiming- twenty thousand dollars damages. This 
suit was dismissed as groundless, but a charge of conspiracy in con- 
nection with the notorious "bank frauds" was preferred against him, 
and by the advice of friends he left the city, and after a while the 
country. Air. Dyar's counsel in these suits was Charles Walker, a 
brother-in-law of S. F. B. Morse. 

In the year 1850 a suit for an injunction was brought before the 
U. S. Supreme Court by F. O. J. Smith, chief proprietor of the New 
York & Boston Morse telegraph line, against Hugh Downing and 
others, proprietors of the line between the same two cities worked by 
the House printing telegraph system. The late Hon. Levi Woodbury 
was the Judge; the case was tried in Boston; the testimony covers 
nearly five hundred printed pages; and the injunction was refused. 
In the course of this trial a letter, dated Paris, Alarch 8, 1848, from 
Mr. Dyar to his friend, Dr. Luther V. Bell of Somervillc, was sub- 
mitted to the Court. Dr. Bell was one of Mr. Dyar's early friends 
and associates, to whom he had communicated his ideas regarding the 
telegraph, and who sympathized with him in its feasibility. In this 
letter to his old friend, Mr. Dyar's claims are so clearly stated, that I 
quote quite fully that portion which refers to the subject of his in- 
vention. He writes: — 

"On reading your letter, I was touched by the exhibition of your 
continued interest in my destiny, and especially b\ your solicitude in 
reference to my establishing my just claims as discoverer of the elec- 
tric telegraph.' I have, in years past, thought of bringing forward 
my claims, but was checked by considering that in so doing I might 
deprive another person of the profits of his invention, which, although 
subsequent to my own, I had supposed was original with the patentee, 
and so independent of any connection with my previous projects and 
experiments. I had, however, thought it very remarkable that Mr. 
Morse's plan should be so almost exactly like my own, especially ex- 
tending to the mode of representing the letters of the alphabet, which 
is identical. 



8 

"Since reading your letter, when searching for some papers in 
reference to my connection with this subject, 1 found a letter of in- 
troduction, dated the day before my departure from America, in Feb- 
ruary, 1831, from an old and good friend, Charles Walker, to his 
brother-in-law, S. F. B. Morse, an artist, at that time in Europe. At 
the sight of this letter it occurred to me that this Mr. Morse might 
be the same person as Mr. Morse of the electric telegraph, which I 
found to be the case. The fact of the patentee of this telegraph, so 
identical with my own, being the brother-in-law of, and living with, 
my friend and legal counsel, Charles Walker, at the time of and sub- 
sequent to my experiments on the wire or electric telegraph in 1826 
and 28, has changed my opmion as to the justice of my remaining 
passive and allowing another to enjoy the honor of a discovery which 
by priority is clearly due to me, and which presumptively is only a 
continuation of my plans, without any material invention on the part 
of this other. 

"Now I wish you to tell me if I am unjust in presuming that Mr. 
Morse must have heard his brother-in-law mention the certainly re- 
markable circumstance of my project of establishing telegraphic com- 
munication, by wires hung up on poles in the air, between New York 
and Philadelphia, and that I was stopped by a suit instituted, or be- 
lieved to be instituted, against me, under the charge of conspiracy for 
transmitting secret intelligence from city to city, and because of which 
I was obliged to drop the project when ripe for execution, and fly 
froin New York; that is, for attempting, ten years too soon, to carry 
out what is now universally considered one of the greatest inventions 
of the age, I was treated as a criminal and was obliged to find safety 
in flight. 

"It was such experience as this, and others, where I had neither 
honor nor profit, which has made me indifferent to reputation or pop- 
ularity. My inventions, however, have yielded me a fortune, and i 
can now neglect barren praise, especially living as I do now in an 
ideal world of my own creation. I will, however, give you a sketch 
of what I did and projected to do about twenty years since in this 
matter. 

"I invented a plan of a telegraph, which should be independent of 
day or night or weather; which should extend from town tO' town, or 
from city to city, without any intermediary agency, by the means of 
an insulated wire in the air, suspended on poles, through which wire 
I intended to send strokes of electricity in such manner that the dif- 
ference of times separating the divers sparks should represent the let- 
ters of the alphabet, and stops between the words, etc., etc. This ab- 
solute or this relative difference of time between the several sparks, I 



intcndecl to take off from an electric machine by a mechanical con- 
trivance regulated by a pendulum, and the sparks were intended to be 
recorded upon a moving or revolving sheet of moistened litmas pa- 
per, which, by the formation of nitric acid by the spark in the air, in 
its passage through the paper would leave a red spot for each spark 
on the blue test paper — these so-produced red spots, by their relative 
interspaces separating them severally from each other being taken 
as an equivalent for the alphabet, etc., or for signs intended to be 
transmitted, whereby a correspondence could be kept up upon one 
wire any length, either in one direction or back and forward, simulta- 
neously or successively, at pleasure. 

"In addition to this use of electricity, I considered that I had, if 
wanted, an auxiliary resource in the power of sending impulses along 
the same wire, properly suspended, somewhat like the action of a 
common bell-wire in a house. 

"Now you will perceive that this plan is, with one exception, like 
the plan known as Morse's telegraph; and in this exception his plan 
is inferior to my own, inasmuch as he and others now make use of 
the electro-magnetic action in place of the single spark, which re- 
quires that they should, in order to get dots or marks on the paper, 
make use of mechanical motions which require time to move; where- 
as my dots were produced by a chemical action of the spark itself, 
and would be, from that cause, transmitted and recorded with any re- 
quired velocity, only preserving the relative distances between the 
sparks, which is a decided superiority over the use of motions got by 
the electro-motive action. Perhaps Mr. Morse was not sufficiently 
familiar with electricity to know of this faculty. 

"My idea is that ■NIr. Morse when returning to America, as you 
mentioned, got by conversation with Dr. Jackson, some notion about 
carrying electricity along a wire, which enabled him to understand 
the nature and mode of operation of my wire telegraph, which he 
must have heard his brother-in-law speak of as a wire reaching from 
city to city. I believe that Mr. Morse is not known to be an inventor 
or a man of science, and for such reasons not likely to originate such 
a project." 

The Dr. Jackson spoken of, had written some time before, to the 
Acad 'mie Francaisc, claiming that he first communicated the plan of 
the telegraph to Mr. Morse, on board the ship Sully, in 1832. But 
it would seem that the hitter had obtained some general views on the 
subject from a different source, viz; — from his brother-in-law who had 
been Mr. Dyer's legal adviser before he left America. 



10 

The letter to Dr. Bell continues: — 

"In reference to what I did to carry out my invention; I associated 
myself with a Mr. Brown of Providence, who gave me certain sums 
of money to become associated with me in the invention. We em- 
ployed a Mr. Connel of New York to aid us in getting- the capital 
wanted to carry the wires to Philadelphia. This was considered as 
accomplished, but before beginning on the long wire, it was decided 
that we should try some miles of it on Long Island. Accordingly, I 
obtained some fine card wire, intending to run it several times around 
the race-course on Long Island. We put up this wire in curves and 
straight lines, by suspending it from stake to stake and from tree 
to tree, until we concluded that our experiments justified our under- 
taking to carry it from New York to Philadelphia. 

"At this moment, our agent, Mr. Connel, brought a suit of sum- 
mons against me for twenty thousand dollars for agencies and ser- 
vices, which I found was done to extort a concession of a share of 
the whole project. I appeared before Judge Irving, who, on hearing 
my statement, dismissed the suit as groundless. A few days after 
this, Joeph F. White, who was our patent agent (intending to take 
out a patent when we could no longer keep it a secret), came to Mr. 
Brown and myself and told us that Mr. Connel had obtained a writ 
against us, under a charge of conspiracy for carrying on secret com- 
munication from city to city; and advised us to leave New York until 
he could settle the affair for us, stating that the sheriff's officer was 
then out after us. As you may suppose, this happening just after 
the notorious bank conspiracy trials, we were frighted beyond meas- 
ure, and the same night we slipt ofif to Providence, where I remained 
for some time, and did not return to New York for many months, and 
then with n.uch fear of a suit. This is the circumstance which put an 
end to and killed effectually all desire to engage further in such a 
dangerous enterprise." 

This dread of prosecution in 1827 seems almost ludicrous; but it 
will appear in a more serious light when we recall the state of public 
feeling against speculators at that time. When Mr. Dyar left the 
country the "Bank Conspiracy" cases to which he alludes might well 
have caused alarm, for the people were then dreadfully in earnest, as 
is proved by the conviction of sundry prominent men, such as Hy. 
Eckford, Jacob Barker, Joseph G, Swift, Thomas Vermilyea, Wm. P. 
Rathbone, jNIatthew L. Davis, Mark Spencer, Geo. W. Brown and 



others, for practices which seem hke innocent amusements when com- 
pared with the shaving operations among the bulls and bears of the 
stock and money markets in later years. It should be remembered 
also that Mr. Dyar was a young man of only twenty-three years of 
age, shy and diffident in manner, and retiring in disposition, country 
bred and of but little experience in the great world of business and 
finance. It was among these very men and their fellows in business 
that Mr. Conncll had "promoted" Mr. Dyar's telegraph project, and 
it was their capital that was relied upon to carry it out. Mr. Dyar 
had but little pecuniary means of his own, to defend himself with, 
against legal proceedings, and when he saw his financial backers, 
men of wealth, and business experience, and high social standing, 
prosecuted and convicted in the courts in spite of all these advan- 
tages, it is not to be wondered at that he made haste to escape. That 
the danger was real, and not "the very painting of his fear," is shown 
by the fact that he did not ship openly for Europe, but sailed away in 
a sm.all boat, to be picked up by the packet after the pilot had left her, 
outside the jurisdiction of the United States. 

He continues : — 

"I think that on my return to New York (from Providence) I ad- 
vised with Charles Walker, who thought, that however groundless 
such a charge might be, it would give me infinite trouble to stand a 
suit. From all this, the very name of 'Electric Telegraph' has always 
given me pain whenever I have heard it spoken of, until I received 
your last letter stimulating me to come out with my claims; and even 
now I cannot overcome the painful association of ideas which the 
same excites. 

'T observe that in a New York paper a Mr. O'Reilly has offered a 
reward of $300 for the best essay on the progress of Electric Science 
with reference to the Telegraph, to be presented before next May. I 
suppose this is done by him with a view to discover grounds of inval- 
idating Mr. Morse's patent. If you think it best to write to him, pray 
do so, — or to Mr. Morse; for if he had an account of my telegraph 
through Mr. Walker, and will state the same, I should not wish to 
injure his patent, which could be no gain to me. In fact, after the 



12 

lapse of so many years, it might require my presence in America to 
get sufficient evidence to invalidate his patent. Although the love of 
fame is too feeble to stimulate me to take any pains to establish my 
just claims to this invention, yet it gives me much pleasure to see an 
old friend interest himself thus in my behalf." 

I have now quoted all in Mr. Dyar's letter to Dr. Bell which has 
special reference to his invention of the telegraph. His statements in 
that letter were afterwards submitted in the form of an affidavit, to 
the Supreme Court, in the trial of the case of Smith vs. Downing, to 
which I have referred. 

In rendering the Court's decision denying the injunction prayed 
for by the Morse people in this case, Mr. Justice Woodbury said: — 
'The most surprising discovery on this subject about this period 
was by Harrison Gray Dyar, another enterprising American. In 1827 
or 28 he is proved by Cornwall to have constructed a telegraph on 
Long Island, at the race-course, by wires on poles, using glass in- 
sulators;" and, after a careful explanation of the essential points of 
Mr. Dyar's invention, as already given, added further: — 'This device 
of an alphabet l)y spaces of time between the sparks, evinces remark- 
able ingenuity, and differs in some degree from Morse's, though very 
near in principle." 

In 1846 Alexander Bain patented his printing telegraph, which is 
known as the Electro-chemical Telegraph, the principles of which 
were identical with those applied to this purpose by Mr. Dyar. By 
the rapidity of its action it became a most important means of reduc- 
ing the price of telegraphic communication, and the patent was event- 
ually purchased by the Morse patentees. 

What has now been said fully establishes, I think, the fact that to 
Harrison Gray Dyar, who while a youth was considered such a 
"genius" by the Concord boys, belongs the fame and credit of having 
been the original inventor of the electric telegraph in America. It 
seems unquestionable that had it not been for the excitement in re- 



13 

lation to the "Bank Conspiracy" cases in New York, the first pubHc 
line of electric telegraph would have been erected by Mr. Dyar be- 
tween that city and Philadelphia, at least fifteen years earlier than the 
original Morse line was constructed, with the aid of the United States 
Government, between Washington and Baltimore. 

After leaving this country Mr. Dyar established himself in Paris, 
where he at once began to delve into other hidden mysteries of nature, 
and soon made another great discovery in chemical science, for which 
he was awarded by one of the Royal Societies of France, the remuner- 
ation, princely in those times, of $300,000. What that discovery was 
I have been unable to ascertain, but 1 suspect it was in connection with 
the production of the aniline colors from coal tar. He was certainly, 
while in France, much engaged in the production of new and beauti- 
ful colors, and I believe that it was in this branch of chemistry that 
his knowledge of that science enabled him to retire with a handsome 
fortune. 

Early in "the sixties" Mr. Dyar returned to his native country, and 
established himself in New York, where he invested his money in real 
property on Broadway and Fifth Avenue, the latter his place of resi- 
dence. It was after he came back to America that he married, and 
later purchased a villa at Rhinebeck, where he died on the 31st of 
January, 1875, leaving a widow and two children. 

Alfred Munroe. 



POSTSCRIPT, BY THE SECRETARY. 

The Mr. Jackson mentioned in the foregoing pages as having writ- 
ten to the Academie Francaise affirming that it was from him that 
Mr. Morse obtained his first idea of the electric telegraph in the year 
1832, was that Dr. Charles T. Jackson, who was afterward to become 



14 

involved in a somewhat similar way, in the great "Ether Controversy," 
With him, too, we of Concord may claim some slight connection, for 
his sister was the wife of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and his widow and 
two of her children removed in later years to Concord, and resided 
here until her death in 1896. Dr. Jackson was a man of active mind 
and quick perceptions, but careless apparently of claiming the credit 
that was his due, until after somebody else had stepped in and 
snatched it, by which time, of course, it was too late for him to be any- 
thing but a contestant, and he could gain, at the best, no more than 
a divided honor. This was doubtless due, in some part, to the natural 
disposition of the man, but I think in a far greater degree to his train- 
ing as a physician, it being an unwritten law of the profession that any 
discovery made by one of its members for the good of humanity, shall 
become practically public property. 

The first important litigation arising out of the telegraph invention 
was in 1846, on an application by Prof. Morse for an injunction 
against Henry O'Reilly and others, proprietors of the Columbian Tel- 
egraph Company, to prevent their using an instrument invented by 
Zook and Barnes of Cincinnati. This suit was brought before Judge 
Monroe of the U. S. District Court of Kentucky, at Louisville, four 
years earlier than the suit of which Mr. Munroe has written. In this 
case. Dr. Jackson testified that on his return to America in 1832, from 
his studies in Paris, he was a fellow passenger on board the packet 
Sully with a young artist, Mr. S. F. B. Morse, with whom he struck up 
quite an intimacy. The idea of sending messages by electricity was 
at that time attracting a great deal of attention in Europe, and Dr. 
Jackson had with him a number of papers that had been recently 
printed on the subject. Pie said that Morse had apparently never be- 
fore heard of the idea, and that when it was broached to him on the 
very first day of the voyage, he thought that even if it should prove 
practicable, it would be of doubtful value. However, his curiosity 



15 

was aroused, and he questioned Jackson quite fully, asking for infor- 
mation on the most elementary points, and betraying his ignorance 
of even the first principles of electrical science. Of electro-magnetism 
he had absolutely no conception, and Jackson, who had no apparatus 
with him, made the matter as plain as he could by means of a draw- 
ing, which Morse copied with great care into his note-book. Of 
course there were no facilities on board for electrical experiments, but 
the two young men made the telegraph their constant subject of con- 
versation during the month's voyage, and Morse got up a system of 
cipher, for which Jackson said he deserved great credit, and by which 
they wrote notes to each other. Dr. Jackson does not mention Dyar 
in this testiiiiony of his, and we do not know that he had ever heard 
of him, though the latter was at that time in Paris. One of the meth- 
ods of telegraphic writing which Jackson proposed to Morse, however, 
was precisely that employed by Dyar, viz.: — "by producing colored 
marks upon a prepared paper, the paper being saturated with an 
easily decomposible neutral salt, and stained wdth tumeric or some 
other easily changed vegetable color." 

Dr. Jackson, in reply to a question of counsel why he had not taken 
steps to push his own investigations further, and to protect his own 
discoveries by patent, replied that his family cares and the exigencies 
of his professional practice gave him no time or opportunity for stud- 
ies and experiments in any direction other than in medicine. Mr. 
5>Torse, however, was thoroughly aroused, and appears, from the very 
momicnt of his landing in New York, to have dropped everything else, 
and to have devoted himself solely to electrical research. Some months 
later he consulted Jackson about a battery that he had constructed 
but could not make work, and betrayed in this and other ways his 
utter ignorance of the fundam.ental principles of electrical science. 

The injunction prayed for by Prof. Morse in the action of which I 
have been soeaking, was refused, the Court holding, substantially, 



16 

that the principle of sending- communications by electricity was not 
patentable, but only the mechanism by which the messages were writ- 
ten and received, and the particular code of signals or alphabet em- 
ployed. 

Taking Dr. Jackson's testimony at its face value, it seems probable 
that Mr. Dyar's suspicion that Morse had picked up his ideas from 
Walker before going to Europe, was not justified, for, as we have 
seen, he was already in Paris before Dyar left this country. But it 
is impossible to avoid the conclusion that when Mr. Morse, full of 
the subject as he was from his constant conversations with Dr. Jack- 
son on board the Sully, took up his residence, as he did, with Mr. 
Walker, he must have learned from the latter all that he knew of Mr. 
Dyar's scheme, even to the minutest details. All of Mr. Dyar's papers, 
the model of his machinery, and the specifications for the patent 
which he had hoped to secure, had been left with Walker, and the ab- 
solute identity of these specifications with those of Prof. Morse, so 
far as they went, is so exact as to preclude entirely any theory of 
mere coincidence. We might perhaps grant that the idea of suspend- 
ing a wire on poles by means of insulators of glass might naturally 
suggest itself to two or more inventors, but we cannot conclude that 
two separate persons would hit upon identical means of receiving and 
recording messages, and upon alphabets so closely similar. In Mr. 
Dyar's telegraph the message was "received on a strip of paper moved 
with a uniform motion by a system of clock work." Morse used pre- 
cisely the same device, but instead of employing, as Dyar had done, 
the chemical effect of electricity, he appropriated Prof. Joseph Henry's 
unpatented electro-magnet, and made his letters mechanically, the 
alphabets used being practically the same. Dyar had been a clock- 
maker's apprentice here in Concord, and very naturally used the 
knowledge he had acquired in that pursuit, and so far as is known he 
was the first to use this particular device. Others had used a system 



17 

of two corresponding dials at the two ends of the line, or had em- 
ployed the deflections of a magnetic needle, or had counted the im- 
pulses sent over a wire. This last was the code devised by Mr. Morse 
in his conversations with Dr. Jackson, who says he made use of the 
first five figures and the zero, by which he was able to represent let- 
ters and words. 

But years before Morse began, Dyar had, as we know from his own 
letter, abandoned his invention, and it had becon:e to a, certain extent 
the common property of all investigators of the subject. Dr. Jackson 
too, after letting Morse in to all that he knew of the matter, had 
dropped it, to pursue his life work. Experimenters in Europe and in 
America were at work on the problem, and indeed has been so at 
work ever since Benj. Franklin, in the previous century had sent sig- 
nals by wire across the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia. The idea of 
the electric telegraph was in the world ; the means of its practical exe- 
cution were wanted. Dyar had found these means, before the world 
was ready for them, and his persistency was not great enough to en- 
able him to hold on until the world caught up with him. How sadly 
this affected him we have seen from his letter, where he says that this 
unreadiness of the world for his invention had "killed all desire to en- 
gage further in such a dangerous enterprise," and that "from «all this 
the very name of electric telegraph has always given me pain, and 
even now (more than twenty years afterward) I can not overcome 
the painful association of ideas which the name excites." 

Still more touching and pathetic is the concluding paragraph of his 
letter to Dr. Bell, which Mr. Munroe does not quote, but which I 
will repeat here, as showing to some degree what manner of man he 
was. He writes: — 

"But few events in life turn out as we plan them ; yet I have found 
that by striving after something excellent, although we may not 
achieve that for which we have aimed, yet nevertheless we always get 
something good, either incidentally by such strife, or along the way- 



18 

side leading to our such fancied ends. I constantly reproach myself 
for the little that I have accomplished, yet I flatter myself that if I 
live to the probable old age due to my constitution, I may yet accom- 
plish something to give me the consoling reflection upon the bed of 
death, that I have not lived for nothing, either in reference to society 
or to my own personal moral perfectionment. But I regret to find 
that all external motives for exertion are dying away as years add 
themselves to years. I have hardly any perceptible desire for wealth 
or popularity, or ambition in any shape ; yet I believe I am one of the 
most happy of men, — happy in living not for but within myself; driven 
by a Providence or by a destiny leading where I know not ; feeling as 
if I had not yet got into my riglit place in the world, or as if I be- 
longed nowhere in that world. Twenty more years, friend Bell, and 
where shall we be, and hov\^ situated, if alive? This consideration is 
consoling, for in twenty years w^e shall not then be decidedly old men; 
and in that time many unconjectured acts of ours, or circumstances, 
may bring us together to attempt or to accomplish. I suppose I 
shall always remain single, and pass the most of my time in Paris, 
often, I trust, visiting America during that time. Pray make known 
to me your projects thus thrown ofiF into that distant future of twenty 
years. I hope for that distant future, but by no means dread a shorter 
future." 

At the time this letter was written (in 1848), Mr. Dyar was forty- 
three years old. It is pleasant to know that even after this age, he 
knew the love of wife and children, and that he came at last to the 
enjoyment of wealth, and died in his native land, not without some 
measure of honor and fame. 

You have noticed an allusion to Henry O'Reilly. Mr. O'Reilly 
was one of the pioneers in practical telegraphy and built over 8000 
miles of telegraph line in the United States, the origin and foundation 
of the present Western Union System. In the long course of litiga- 
tion to which he was subjected, in connection with his work, he made 
an immense collection of material for a history of the telegraph, which 
in 1859, he presented to the New York Historical Society. It was 
made up of forty large volumes of printed matter "in connection with 
controversies through the courts and before the public affecting the 
legal and equitable rights of electricians, constructors, inventors and 



19 

the community since the commencement of telegraphing in the United 
States." There were also 60 volumes of manuscript letters, affidavits, 
contracts, testimony, etc., referring to precisely the same subjects, the 
whole forming the most complete, and necessarily the most impartial 
library of telegraphic history ever brought together, or that could 
possibly have been brought together, for it included all the testimony 
and even all the arguments of counsel, on both sides of every dispute 
about the whole subject, or any part thereof. 

In a note by him on Mr. Dyar's letter (not quoted by Mr, Munroe), 
he says: — 

"The coincidence between the plans of Mr. Dyar and those of Prof. 
Alorse, as far as the plan of electro-chemical telegraphy is concerned 
is sufficiently marked. — and it needs only to be stated here that it was 
not until the year 1836 or 1837, that Prof. Morse adopted the electro- 
magnetic power for telegraphing." The reason for this was that it 
was at first very difficult to develop sufficient electro-magnetic power 
for that purpose; but at length Prof. Joseph Henry conquered that 
difficulty, and his invention, which is the basis of the system univer- 
sally used today, was substituted by Morse for the plan which he had 
adopted in his previous experiments. So we see, that not only did 
Morse adopt Dyar's alphabet and clock-work "identically," but that 
he also began by adopting identically his method of producing or re- 
cording the characters. This appears to make it circumstantially cer- 
tain, that he must, after his attention was first called to the matter by 
Dr. Jackson, have got the details of Dyar's abandoned invention from 
some source, and there is no other source so evident as Charles 
Walker, his own brother-in-law, and Dyar's former confidant and 
adviser. 

Dyar might well quote "tulit alter honores," if he could see how 
little justice has been done him in popular telegraphic history, and 
outside of the testimony produced in the courts, whose proceedings 



20 

and records are but little read or known by the general public. The 
latest edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, in its article on the Tele- 
graph, mentions him not at all, though it names many whose labors 
are less entitled to credit and have had less practical bearing on tele- 
graphic work and practice. Appleton's American Encyclopedia says : 

"An attempt was made in 1827, by Harrison Gray Dyar, to employ 
frictional electricity, at the race-course on Long Island, N. Y. He 
made use of iron wire, glass insulators, and wooden posts, and em- 
ployed for signalling, the chemical power of the electric current to 
change the color of litmus paper." In this the Encyclopedia does 
Mr, Dyar but scanty measure of justice, for what it dismisses as "an 
attempt," was really a practical success, as far as sending a message 
which could be read by another person than the sender himself, goes. 

There is but little to be discovered with regard to Mr. Dyar's early 
life here. All his cotemporaries here have died, years ago, or at least 
all those who were boys with him, for when he left here in 1824, he 
was still in his teens. His telegraph experiments in Concord could 
have made but little impression on his elders, who would look upon 
them as nothing better than boy's play. But a gentleman who was 
bom and bred in Concord, and who was living ten years ago, told me 
that he remembered the experiment well, and that twenty years later, 
when the telegraph became a subject of universal talk and curiosity, 
his old master. Col. Whiting, was very fond of telling that the whole 
thing was "no more than that Dyar boy had done here long ago." 
He described the line as having been hung from the trees on the Red 
Bridge road, with apothecaries' glass phials for insulators, and re- 
membered that schoolmaster Dinsmore, and Asa Jarvis, who was then 
a ^student at Harvard College, assisted in the experiment, in which he 
himself bore some little part; and that the words transmitted over the 
line were legibly recorded. 



21 



Later this gentleman wrote nic a few of his recollections of the 
Dyar boys. He says: — 

"The older, as T remember him, was married. T have an impression 
that they were in some way related to Lemuel Curtis, for whom they 
worked, or possibly to his wife, and that they remained in Concord 
but a short time after Curtis's removal. The younger, who was, I 
think, a little older than I, I recollect as a handsome, well-bred young- 
ster, rather shy and diffident, a good scholar, and a little slow of 
speech. He was always making experiments of one kind or another 
in Curtis's back shop. Curtis encouraged him in this sort of thing 
more than boys of his disposition were generally encouraged, for in 
those days boys were kept pretty closely to practical work, and origi- 
nality on their part was frowned upon. My father liked him, and he 
came often to^ the shop to beg bits of leather or shoemaker's wax for 
some of his constructions. Father used to say that that boy would 
make a noise in the world yet, quiet as he was. He did make a noise 
once at any rate, for he blew a window out of Curtis's shop by the 
explosion of some chemical substance he was playing with or experi- 
menting upon, and scared the whole neighborhood. He made, from 
glass bottles and jars, the first electrical machine I had ever seen, and 
we boys took many a shock from it. T remember too, that he tried 
Franklin's great kite experiment in a severe thunder storm. Several 
of us boys and Mr. Forbes, the schoolmaster, assisted. Fortunately, 
by the advice of Master Forbes, he tied the kite string to a fence, and 
we had got a safe distance away before the right flash came along — • 
Vvhicli burned the string, and left its mark upon the fence, and would 
probably have killed him if he had been holding the kite. 

"I am sorry I can tell you so little about him, and that little not 
just what you want; and I do not now recall the name of any person 
now living who was a boy with us and could tell you more. I saw 
a notice of his death in the newspapers some years ago, and recog- 
nized the name as that of the boy I once knew. There was. a brief 
sketch of his life, that m.entioned his early connection w-ith the tele- 
graph, and that he had lived many years in Europe engaged in scien- 
tific pursuits, and I thought then that this was just what I should 
have imagined would be his life." 

Thus far, mv correspondent of ten years ago, I think we can see 
in the writer of the letter to Dr. Bell, a good many traces of the '"shy 
and diffident young fellow," full of the spirit of scientific investigation 



22 

arid "a. little slow of speech" that my correspondent described, and of 
"the youth of faultless character" of whom Dr. Jarv'is wrote. We 
have but few additional facts with which to fill out more perfectly the 
shadowy outline we have of him. We know that he was one of the 
ten children of Jeremiah and Susan Dyar, and that his father was a 
blockmaker at Boston, until 1803, when he removed to Medford, 
going from that place in 1805, to Lancaster, where he died in 1829. 
We have learned that his scientific attainments gained him member- 
ship in many learned societies in Europe, and also secured to him an 
ample fortune. Among his many projects was a scheme for a universal 
language, and he devised a comprehensive and logical system to that 
end. "He was greatly interested in the phenomena of modern spirit- 
ualism, and studied its manifestations carefully in the endeavor to find 
out its material foundation." 

But perhaps the idea of him that we can for ourselves create from 
the fragmentary data that we have, may after all be as truly represen- 
tative as columns of gossip and anecdotes would be. That he missed 
by a hair's breadth the attainment of world-wide fame, must move 
our sympathy; that he did "not whine nor chide," but bravely set 
him'self to work in a new field, not "for the sake of wealth or popu- 
larity or ambition," but that his life might not be lived in vain, chal- 
lenges our respect; that he had learned and acted upon the great truth 
that "by striving after something excellent we always get something 
good" deserves our admiration; that though disappointed himself, he 
yet forbore for many years to claim his own laurels, lest the wearer 
of them should also feel the pangs of a similar disappointment, and 
only spoke at last to prevent a cruel injustice to a third person, dem- 
onstrates his own unselfishness and nobility of character, and makes 
us proud to claim him as one of Concord's heroes. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Heywood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 



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Concord, ss Mass. 

Opposite Fitchburg Depot. 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES. 

SPORTING GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

RENTING, REPAIRING 

AND TEACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
your Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

SHOP, MONUMENT ST., Telephone U-5 

OFFICE, HEY.WOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telepboae 28-4 



"' MISS BUCK'S 

MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

mav be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, witli Piiotogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 

Thoreau Penholders, i 5c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 

Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 
Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 
For sale by 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 



iiUILT IN 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 
Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCK, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLEX SON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE. 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



At. . . 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 
may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 
GUIDE BOOKS 

and books by 

CONCORD AUTHORS, 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 




Druggist. 


The Colonial, 




Monument Square, 


Huyler's Candies 


Concord, Massachusetts. 


Souvenir Postal Cards 






WILLIAM E. RAND, 


Photographs, etc. 


Proprietor. 


Concord, - Mass. 





TWO BOOKS by '^Hargaret Sidney.'* 

Old Concord : Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, $2.00. 

"One of the choicest souvenirs of the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

"It is written in a style as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's 'Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 

Little Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by- 
Frank T. Merrill. $1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famous"North Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 
such a story as young people like ; as the founder of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 
■ 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. [ 



I 



The Publications of the 



Concord 

Antiqitarian 

Society 



from 



I 



ITbe patriot press 

Concord Massachusetts 



ich also prints 

%e Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 

The Erudite (monthly) 

Concord., A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 



^be ^own of Concorb 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
AND DEATHS 

from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for ^5 each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



STORY OF AN 
OLD HOUSE 

BY THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES 



,^^ Of coi.a,?^ 

'>y^ RECEIVED ^tP 

MAR 9 -1904 




"A truly great historical novel." — Omaha World-Herald. 

THE COLONIALS 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has written a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few weeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle says : 
" It is seldom that we are favored with so strong, so symmet- 
rical, so virile a work ... a work of romantic fiction of 
an order ot merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 

Price JVith Colonial Decorations $1.50 

The Furniture of Our Forefathers 

By ESTHER SINGLETOIST 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which arc in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net. Write for prospectus. 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, N.Y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

House "on Lexington Road 



I 



Containing a large collection of 

LOCAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RELICS, CHINA, 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 

is open every afternoon from May i to November i 

at which times the Secretary will be 

in attendance 

Admission 25 Cents 



STORY OF AN 
OLD HOUSE 



READ BEFORE THE 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 



V- 7 ^t 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, 1886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 



> Vice Presidents. 



THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . President. 

SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 

THOMAS TODD ..... Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road, 



PATRIOT PRESS, CONCORD. 



STORY OF AN OLD HOUSE 



STORY OF AN OLD HOUSE 



How much interest: centers about an old homestead ! Whether "built 
wiser than they knew" in the best style of the colonial days, or the plain 
farm house of old time. Not because of form or architecture, but from the 
human experiences that have gone on therein. The building as such, 
may not be interesting, yet think of the life there. In its rooms children 
have been born, and christened, liave played, grown to man and woman- 
hood, married, joyed, sorrowed, sickened, died. Into its doors have 
trooped friends, relatives, brides and grooms, and from them have gone 
out sons and daughters, widows and mourners, youth in its bloom and 
age in its ripeness. Around its chimney corners yet echo old tales and 
songs mingled with sharp notes of scolding or sweet accents of affection. 
Its nooks and crannies are full of the myriad whispers of life, of the 
secrets of love, and the raging of anger ; in its closets are skeletons, in its 
drawers old perfumes. Its walls have heard the wolPs howl, the In- 
dian's yell, the strains of music, the cries of pain, the shouts of joy, the 
oaths of drunkenness, and the startling shot of the enemy's gun. 

Such a house, that was lived in for more than two centuries, yet stands 
overlooking the river and the Battle Ground in Concord. Its stout oak 
timbers and wide pine boards were hewn from the original forest that 
covered its hill side, "Before the white men came." It looked on the bea- 
vers working in the brook, and the salmon leaping in the river in front. 
It watched the quaint, sturdy figures of the early settlers, axe in hand, 
cutting the new roads to the wilderness beyond. It heard the strokes of 
the building of the first bridge, and the peal of the earliest bell that sum- 



moned the pioneers to meeting. It stared at the rude cart, the one horse 
shay, and the single shaft sleigh that passed its windows, more surprised 
at these, than now with the tandems, the bicycles and the locomotives. 
At first only the birch canoe floated on the stream near by ; then the rude 
scow, later the loaded canal boats, and now the white sails of skiff's and 
pufts of steam launches glisten over the meadows. Its outside grew 'mel- 
low with tints of time, before it was touched by paint, and its inside ceil- 
ings dark with smoke of great open fires before lath and plaster covered 
the smooth oak and rich pine of its rafters and sheathing. 

John Smedley, of Huguenot race, came to Concord perhaps with the 
first settlers, if not, very soon after them. He may have come from 
Matlock in Derbyshire England with Flint of that place, for Smedleys 
are now living there. He was admitted Freeman (entitled to vote) in 
1644 ; may have been married before his coming here, as there is no 
record of it in the town books, but a son was born to John and Ann 
Smedley the 31st of ye 8 month 1646, named John, and another son 
James Oct. 2 1650, according to the records. The first John took up 
land in the first division of the town, in what was called the North 
Quarter, and in 1664 gave in his list of 17 lots containing 668 acres, 
describing his house lot of 10 acres as bounded south by John Jones, 
north by James Blood, west by the old brook running from the mill and 
east by Humphrey Barrett. 

John Jones' was the Frescott place, and was bounded on the north by 
Smedley, on the east by Humphrey Barrett, on the south by James 
Blood and Humphrey Barrett and on the west by the old brook. James 
Blood's was the Ripley place (the old manse) and Smedley's house stood 
between the two. In the description giyen there is no mention of the 
road, but in some of the earlier deeds the Smedley house lot is bounded 
on the east by the highway, and in some is described as lying on both sides 
of the way. From this it would seem that the house was standing on 
the lowest and west side of the road. The boundaries and description 
are very loose and confused, and can only be reconciled by supposing 



the course of the highway to have been changed thereabouts, with the 
growth of the town and the widenings and straightenings of the early 
paths, that were fresh cut or blazed from house to house, and not laid out 
by any clear description of metes and bounds. 

In this instance if the original road bore more to the east and nearer to 
the ridge beyond Humplirey Barrett's (now Mr. Lang's) and passed near 
the Prescott barn and east of this old house and thence to the North 
Bridge, it would solve many of the difficulties of the old descriptions. 
There were traces of such a line in past years, and it seems more prob- 
able than that tiie first houses were built in tlie low wet places west of 
the present roiul, and left no signs of their existence there. There 
would have been quite a slough hole just north of the drive way to the 
Prescott place where the sluice i-uns under the highway, and the first 
pith would have been likely to keep up on the hard land east of it. 
There the old lines of the lots on that side of the highway, make an 
acute angle v»ith it, as it is now, but are at right angle with the line 
bearing more easterly, 

Whether or not this house was built where it now stands, its internal 
construction marks its unmistakably as one of the oldest of the Concord 
houses, and from every indication probably built by John Smedley. He 
was a man of substance and position here ; a Deputy to the General 
Court in 1667, and again in 1670 ; was Qiiarter Clerk of the North 
Qiiarter ; one of a committee to lay out the road to Groton, and a 
-'Commissioner to end small matteis." 

From these offices, he seems to have been a "citizen of credit and re- 
nown" likely to have built one of the earliest frame houses of two stories. 
As he left this house, it contained only two rooms, the present dining- 
i-oom, and the chamber over it, north of the present front door. It 
squarely faced the cardinal points of the compass. The door was south, 
tl)e windows west and north. The original outside boarding was found 
in place, but much weather worn. The frame was oak, the posts having 
bulging tops to receive the plates, the boards of hard pine very wide, 



8 

some two feet or more, with chamfered over-lapping edges on the walls, 
to make them tight. The great chimney was built up outside against 
the house, perhaps first, and was laid with stones and clay mortar at the 
base, which was 12 feet by 8 for several feet above the ground. There 
was no laths or plaster on the main living room for many years ; the 
joists of the upper floor and the "summer" were of smoother oak, and 
dark colored with the smoke of more than a century. The access to the 
upper room was by a trap or scuttle near the chimney and steps or 
niches in the base, or perhaps a ladder was used. The door casings 
were unlike any in old houses here, being hewn out of a wide oak plank, 
and worked down an inch to receive the sheathing, and also to make the 
frame for the door, and the rabbet for it to shut against. All the nails 
used were made by a blacksmith on an anvil, and were large headed and 
very sharp. These and many other facts were plainly made out when 
the house was last repaired, but no date could be found any where in 
the structure, though carefully sought. Various old scores in chalk or 
charcoal were found made in Pounds, Shillings and Pence, but no dates. 
Every appearance indicated the great age of these two rooms much be- 
yond the later additions, especially the old fire place at first 8 feet wide, 
then bricked up to 6 feet, then to 4 feet and lastly to hold the funnel of a 
stove. 

In this house John Smedley could have brought up comfortably his 
two sons ; there does not seem to have been any other children. He 
was relieved from all ordinary trainings in 1676, on account of age and 
infirmity, and died about 1687, but there is no record of his death or of 
the settlement of his estate. 

His eldest son John succeeded him as the owner and occupant of the 
estate, and James the youngest son found or made a home near the 
meeting house. John Jr. married Sarah Wheeler, daughter of Sergeant 
and Sarah (Meriam) Wheeler, May 5, 1669, and they had a son Joseph 
born in 1672 and another John born in 1675 also at least three daughters. 
When he died in 1717 he left a widow, a daughter Sarah who was mar- 



ried to Ebenezer Hartwell, a daughter Ann who was married to James 
Davis, and another daughter Mary who had married Daniel Shepard. 
Although not as prominent as his father in public matters, this John has 
looked after the house by the addition of the two southern rooms, and the 
entry and stair- case between these and the old part, also probably the 
east lean-to against the new rooms. 

We must leave to the imagination the life of these years in the en- 
larged house, for there is no record of the doings of these boys and 
girls. Whether the course of their loves ran smooth, or was crossed by 
rivalry and jealousy, the weddings were several years apart, and there 
weie no wedding journeys for them to undertake. Sarah brought her 
husband to the old house to live, and help the old folks to carry on the 
farm. Ann went with hers some years afterwards, only a mile away to 
the Davis farm on the Groton road, but whether they walked or rode, 
and if in a rude cart or on a pillion, or like Priscilla Alden on the back 
of a milch cow, tradition does not tell. Mary chose her cousin Daniel 
Shepard, the son of Isaac who married, Shattuck says, Mary vSmedley a 
daughter of Baptiste Smedley a brother of the first John. This Isaac 
lived near Nashoba, and was with his brother killed by the Indians in 
1676 while threshing in their barn ; and his sister, captured and carried ofl 
to Lancaster, escaped by killing her captor and riding home on his 
horse. Daniel, who must have heard all the fearful particulars of that 
Indian raid, thought the old house safer than Nashoba, and he came to 
live in it with his wife. It made a large household and from the care- 
fulness of the division of the estate after John Smedley's death, it might 
be inferred that there had sometimes been *<too many folks" for one 
house. Had one of this family only kept a diary, what stories of old 
time labor and thrift we might read. How the spinning, knitting, 
weaving, and coloring went on ; what baking, brewing, and churning 
took place in the great kitchen, for the preparation for the weddings, we 
might have known, but never shall. 

Sarah's husband Ebenezer Hartwell, worked so well for his father in 



10 

law, that he got a deed of part of the place before John Srnedley died, 
and in the next few years got the title to the rest of the estate into his 
hands. From which it may be inferred that he was the smartest of the 
family. He did not keep it long, but in 1724 he sold the whole to Sam- 
uel Jones, his next door neighbor, and moved away. This ends the 
Smedley connection with this house, and the name disappears from the 
town and county records. But if the name has gone, one of the descen- 
dants of Ann Smedley and James Davis, now [1892] lives in this house, 
Philip Keyes Walcott, probably the only instance where a lineal descen- 
dent of a first settler is living in his house, even in this very conservative 
town. 

The estate havmg passed to Samuel Jones, that family must now in- 
terest us. John Jones (not the colleague of Peter Bulkeley) came to 
Concord before 1650, married Dorcas, settled on the place south of 
Smedley's, now Prescott's and died in 1673, leaving a son Samuel who 
married Elizabeth Potter in 1672. They had a son Samuel born in 
1674, who married Ruth Brown in 1698, and died in 1755. The first 
Samuel and his father do not appear in the town records with any 
prominence ; they seem to have been plain quiet farmers in humble cir- 
cumstances, though both Samuels married into good families. The last 
Samuel had improved his worldly possessions, so that he was able to 
buy this adjoining Smedley estate and pay tor it £210, a sum equal to 
two or three thousand dollars of our money. Apparently he bought it 
for his oldest son Thomas who was born in 1702 and married in 1727 
to Mary Miles, for they occupied it after the Hartwells and Shepards 
left it. 

Thomas and Mary brought up a large family and perhaps let a part of 
this house, as the lean-to and shed on the north being added, it would 
accomodate two families, until he needed the whole. He was a captain, 
acquired considerable property, and after his father's death, he moved 
back to the Prescott place, and continued there till he died in 1774. 
He left by his will to his oldest son, the Prescott place ; to John (possibly 



11 

a black sheep,) 5 shillings; to 3d son, Samuel, land lying about Pond 
Meadow ; to his daughters, Mary Brown, Elizabeth Brooks, and Ruth 
Jones, personal property, and to Ruth a right to dwell with her mother, 
in the house given to Thomas, and finally to his youngest son Elisha all 
the rest of his estate, and thus Elisha owned our old homestead. 

He was born in 1744, the 6th of a family of eight children, and as 
others of the name had been and were afterwards, he became a black- 
smith. He married in 1770 Elizabeth Farrar, and brought her to this 
house to live. He became the prominent man of the family, was 
Lieutenant according to some authority, and Captain according to others. 
In the troubles preceding the Revolution Elisha was active on the right 
side ; he received of the military stores sent to Concord in 1775, fifty-five 
l)bls of beef and 17000 lbs of salt-fish, to be stored in his cellar and shed. 
His family of two small children were greatly disturbed by the events of 
the morning of the 19th of April. The early alarm roused them, and 
the Mditia and minute men who fell back at the approach of the British 
troops halted on the hill behind their house and waited there some time 
before crossing the bridge. The confusion and excitement increased as 
the five companies of the red coats marched up the road, and left two 
companies near his house, while two more went on to Col. Barrett's and 
one remained to guard the bridge. 

The soldiers of the two companies then halted near this door yard, 
soon surrounded the well in front, drinking the cool water that was so 
delicious after their long march that hot day. It seems to have satisfied 
them as there was no report of any depredations. Mr, Jones had pru- 
dently taken his wife and babies down cellar, where they cowered in 
fear and trembling in the dark corners, while he stood guard over the 
barrels of beef. Soon the chatter and noise of the Britishers ceased, and 
all was still. Then the silence was broken by the volleys of musketry 
at the bridge. He could stand it no longer, but rushing up from the 
cellar followed by his wife and crying children, they saw the regulars 
retreating in confusion back to the village, bearing their wounded, some 



12 

with ghastly faces, supported by their comrades, others with bloody limbs 
hastily bandaged to stanch the flow. It was a shocking sight to the oldest 
child, a girl of four years, which she remembered to her old age, and 
often described. To her father it lent new excitement and patriotic rage ; 
he pointed his gun out of the bedroom window on the north-west corner 
of the house, determined to have one raking shot at the foe. His wife 
clung to his arm, begging him not to risk their burning the house if he 
fired from it, and succeeded in preventing his purpose and getting the 
gun away. Then he went to the door of the shed, and stood there look- 
ing at the retreating soldiers in scorn and triumph. One of the rear guard 
who may have seen his attempt to shoot, or "misliked his look," drew 
up as they passed the house, and fired a "British musket ball" at Elisha. 
It was a well pointed shot considering that the red coats fired from the 
hip, and not from the shoulder with a sight along the gun barrel, as the 
Yankees did. The ball struck at the height of Jones' head about three 
feet to the right, and passing through the boarding, glanced from an oak 
joist, and out through the back side into the ground behind. The hole 
in the front board still remains, to be seen of "pilgrims and strang- 
ers," some ot whom content themselves with putting their fingers in it, 
while others have been known to try to cut out and carry off the hole. 
Whether, after this narrow escape, Mr. Jones joined in the pursuit to 
Charlestown, or remained at home to care tor his frightened family, 
tradition does not tell. 

At any rate, the next day he planted a willow stick in the front yard, 
in remembrance of the fight and his escape, and the tree grew and lived 
more than a hundred years. This willow in 1865 had a trunk more than 
fifteen feet round, and about ten feet high, then branched into a dozen 
great limbs, spreading in all directions and affording a good play room 
for the children. July 26, 1867, a summer shower broke all these down 
to the ground, like an umbrella turned wrong side out. They reached 
across the road, and blocked up the yard, and the drive way to the barn. 
An attempt to let them remain, and take root like a banyan tree failed, 



13 

from lack of vitality in the trunk, which proved a mere shell of bark, 
so they were removed, and the hollow trunk filled with earth. In this a 
new shoot sprung up, and grew to a large head a dozen feet or more in 
height and size, by the time of the centennial of the fight, 1875. For an 
inscription on it that day, the verse of Holmes' "One Horse Shay" was 
printed in large type. 

''Little of all we value here 
Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year 
Without both looking and feeling queer. 
In fact there's nothing that keeps its youth. 
So far as I know, but a tree and truth.** 

The genial Dr. riding by in the procession stopped to read the lines, 
and with a smile remarked, that he never knew before why he wrote 
that verse, but now he did. To finish, anent the tree, in 1885 the bark 
of the trunk had rotted away, and the top was failing, so April 19th the 
willow was removed to the triangle between Monument street and the 
lane to the great meadows, where it is yet vigorous and flourishing, 
promising to last to another centennial. 

To return to our old house, which continued to be the home of 
Elisha Jones and his family of six children, three boys and three girls. 
These last married Concord men, as the Smedley and Sam Jones girls 
had done in their day; the eldest, Capt. Nathan Barrett m 1795 ; the 
second, John Dakin, in 1801 ; and the third, Emerson Barrett in 1809, 
and all lived and died in Concord. Of the sons, James and Abel spent 
their lives in the homestead, while Elisha Jr. went to Boston and there 
married. Capt. Jones died in 1810, leaving his widow and two sons to 
carry on the farm. 

The Prescott place south of this was purchased of Joshua Jones, a son 
of Thomas, by Francis Barrett of Boston in 1814. He was the 8th son 
and 11th child of Capt. Nathan Barrett of revolutionary fame, and an 
uncle of Miss Emeline and Lucy Barrett. He had carried on a large 
carriage making establishment in Boston on School St., at the site of 



14 

the present Parker house, and owned a portion of that estate. He was 
handsome, rich and dissipated. May 5th 1799, when just 21 years old, 
he married a beautiful young girl of French descent, Marie F. Pallisier, 
and they lived in Boston till the war of 1812 ended. Then having fitted 
up the old house on his pun-.hase here, with larger windows, higher 
ceilings, a curving stair case, and raised up the leau-to another story, he 
brought his family to live in Concord in 1815. 

He made a great dash in our quiet streets, with a bellows-top chaise 
of the latest style and brightest colors, a spanking team, with the wife 
in a purple silk spencer, and a Leghorn bonnet with white plumes. He 
had five sons and three daughters, of whom the boys mainly resembled 
the father, and the girls the mother. After several attempts to commit 
suicide, and one or two severe accidents, Francis Barrett died of a 
fever in 1819, leaving the widow with seven living children, and one 
born four months after his death. There was not much property for 
them, as the Boston estate was sold by his administrator for about $3000, 
and his habits had used up nearly all the rest, except the home. 

Here, now, was the chance at last, for our old house to lose its sober- 
ness and have a lively time of fun and frolic. James Jones, the son of 
Elisha, with his brother Abel, were keeping bachelors' hall in its old 
rooms. James, rather a fine looking man of about forty, attracted the 
widow's eye, as he, perhaps, helped her about her farming, or it may be 
the bachelor was taken with the sparkling complexion behind the wid- 
ow's weeds. At any rate they were married Dec. 2, 1819, not a year 
after her husband's death, and with this ready-made family the bachelors' 
hall was turned into a very domestic establishment. Mrs. Jones brought 
to the house many handsome articles of furniture, life-sized portraits of 
herself and her late husband (this soon exchanged in its frame for one of 
Mr. Jones,) some French styles and fashions and a very lively set of 
young folks. 

There was much going on and the boys and girls made the quiet old 
rooms ring with their merriment. How they must have teased and tried 



15 

that so much married, poor old bachelor, and how glad he must have been 
as the boys grew up, to ship them off to New York to go into business, 
and how, wild and dashing bucks, they would come home in vacations 
to swell and swagger around Concord. 

And the girls, handsomer than their mother ever was, great favorites 
and the bel.es of their day, how they danced, and sang and flirted till the 
two older ones married and went away, leaving only the youngest daugh- 
ter and the posthumous son, a half-witted boy, to care for the parents 
and house. Mr. Jones, with so much trouble and worry, took to drink 
to keep up his spirits with the ardent as well as he could, while Mrs. 
Jones, in spite of her cares, grew so fat and stout that the tales of her 
youthful grace and beauty could not be believed. Her pace, as she 
slowly bore her mountain of flesh to church on Sundays, was the wonder 
of the boys as to which would arrive first, the woman or the end of the 
sermon. As time went on, Mr. Jones grew feeble, gave up his weekly 
ride to Lowell and other towns distributmg the Concord newspapers, 
and died in 1838. 

Some years before, he exhibited an audacity quite equal to manying the 
widow and her large family. He attacked the large ash and sycamore 
trees in front of the old house and trimmed them in the savagest manner 
to naked spars, cutting oft' the lower branches five o*- six feet from the 
trunk, the next upper row to three or four feet, the next shorter and the 
topmost limbs to mere stubs. They made a singular appearance. Every- 
body said he had killed these two large trees, and his neighbors protested. 
Wouldn't have done it for hundreds of dollars. But in spite of the proph- 
ecies the trees put forth new branches and grew so fast that in a genera" 
tion they had more than recovered their beauty and size, and are today 
the finest shade trees of their varieties in the town, while those at the 
Manse opposite, of about the same age, are dead or dying. 

The family were left by his death in narrow circumstances. They rent- 
ed the land and part of the house for some years, till the youngest daugh- 
ter's marriage, when they removed to Weymouth. The old house, after 



16 

they left it, grew shabby and dilapidated. Nova Scotia and Irish families 
filled up its rooms, and it soon became as disreputable looking as the 
Middlesex ; almost, not quite, for it could be lived in. Its ownership 
had passed to Capt. Nathan Barrett, the son of Mary the daughter of 
Elisha, and from him it was bought by the wife of the writer, the daugh- 
ter of the last owner of the Prescott place, whose girlhood had been spent 
so near by the old house. 

With much labor and expense it was carefully repaired and renovated ; 
a new outside and inside finish put on the building ; the old chimneys 
taken down and replaced by new ; the rooms finished in native woods ; 
the small windows enlarged ; and Lutheran, long and bay windows, porch 
and piazza added, and the interior so changed that its former owners 
would hardly recognize it. The outside retains the lean-to roof on the 
North, and the general shape of the old house. The barn was moved 
across the road from where it had long been an eyesore to the Manse, 
and placed nearly on the site of the blacksmith shop, and the view over 
the meadows and battleground improved. 

One treasure that may interest Antiquarians was fortunately secured 
for the parlor. The mantel that stood in the recess behind the Speaker's 
chair, in the old Hall of the House of Representatives in the Capitol at 
Washington, now ornaments the north-west room of the old house. It 
was taken out of that hall of Congress when that was converted into a 
statuary gallery on the enlargement of the Capitol in 1864 — 5, and sold 
for old marble, purchased and shipped to Concord. It is partly of 
Italian white and Vermont dark marble, and was cut by the Italian artists 
who worked about 1815, rebuilding the Capitol after the British forces 
burned the U. S. buildings iu the war with England. The mantel has 
the fasces for pilasters, surmounted by a finely carved sheaf of wheat, and 
two side panels of the frieze with the thirteen stars around the sun, as 
emblems of the original thirteen states shone on by Liberty. In the cen- 
tre panel is a raised figure on a pedestal, of America wearing the cap of 
Liberty and crowning, with laurel wreaths in each hand, female figures 



17 

representing, the one leaning on a plow and holding the square, chisels 
and mallet, Art and Agriculture ; the other, with her foot on the globe, 
an anchor and bale of merchandise behind and an open book in her hand, 
Science and Commerce, emblematic of the futui e of the United States. 
About this mantel have sat and talked nearly every man of distinction in 
our history, between the war of 1812 and the Rebellion. If its stones 
could speak what stories they could tell of the politics of those years. 

This old house if spared by fire, that ruthless enemy of all antiquarian 
treasures of America, may well last for another hundred years to be 
added to its quadri millennial. 

John S. Keyes. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Heywood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 

Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

TeIepho7ic Catniectio)!. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor. 
Concord, Mass. 

Off Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1 747- 1 776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

I In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOOOSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards, 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Battle, April 19, 1775. 

OLD NORTH BRIDGE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages with competent guides to 

meet all cars on Monument Square, 

the centre of all points of historic 

interest: 

Carriages may be ordered in advance. 

With twenty years* experience col- 
lecting antiques with a local history, I 
have instructed the guides the associa- 
tion of the points of interest, which 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, flass. 

J. W. CULL, Hanager. 



MGMANU8 BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 

Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, a Mass. 

Opposite Fitchbtirg Depot. 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES. 

SPORTING GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

RGNTINQ, REPAIRING 

AND TEACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
your Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

SHOP, MONUMENT ST., Telephone U-5 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCOF^D, MASS. Telephone 28=4 



At 



MJSS BUCK'S 



MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, witli Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 

Thoreau Penholders, i 5c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 

Thoreau place. 

A very tew genuine Thoreau 

Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped |. Thoreau & Son. 

r"or sale hy 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 



Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 

Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLE HON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, of may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman \ 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE, 

IVatchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



At.... 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 

may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 



CONCORD VIEWS, 



GUIDE BOOKS 



and books by 



CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 
Druggist. 



Huyler's Candies 
Souvenir Postal Cards 
Photographs, etc. 



Concord, 



Mass. 



The Colonial, 

Monument Square, 
Concord, Massachusetts. 

WILLIAM E. RAND, 

Proprietor, 



TWO BOOKS by 'Hargaret Sidney." 

Old Concord : Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer. of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, ^2.00. 

"One of the choicest Rouvenirsof the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreaii, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

" It is written in a style as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's ' Florence.' " — American Bookseller, 

Little Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
Frank T. Merrill. I1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famousNortli Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 
such a story as young people like ; as the founder of tiie flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

are from 

^be patriot pre^s 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

The Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
The Erudite (monthly) 
Concord^ A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 



ZTbe ITown of Concord 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
AND DEATHS 

from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for §5 each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



JOHN JACK, THE SLAVE, 



AND 



DANIEL BLISS, THE TORY 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN 




"A truly great historical novel." — Omaha World-Herald. 

THE COLONIALS 

By ^LLEN IHREISrCH: 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has written a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few weeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle says : 
<' It is seldom that we are favored with so strong, so symmet- 
rical, so virile a work ... a work of romantic fiction of 
an order of merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 

Price IVith Colonial Decorations $L50 

The Furniture ol Our Forefathers 

By KSTHKR SIlSTGLITlTOlSr 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which are in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net. Write for prospectus. 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, N.Y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

House on Lexington Road 

Containing a large collection of 

.OGAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RELICS, CHINA, 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 

is open every afternoon from May i to November i 

at wliicli times the Secretary will be 

in attendance 

\dmission 25 Cents 



JOHN JACK, THE SLAVE. 

AND 

DANIEL BLISS, THE TORY 



READ BEFORE THE 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 



\ 1 r 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, i886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 

THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . President. 
SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. . . .),..„ , 
THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD J "^'^ ^--'^-^^• 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 



THE Rev. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS, CONCORD. 



JOHN JACK, THE SLAVE, 

AND 

DANIEL BLISS, THE TORY 



On the rearward or northern slope of Concord's old Hill "Burying 
Ground," somewhat apart trom other stones, as if to show that even 
the equality of the grave were but a figure of speech, and that the quiet 
sleejjer who lies below were in some way to be kept separate from "the 
rude forefathers of the hamlet," who, "each in his narrow cell forever 
laid," repose near by, stands the plain monumental slab of gray slate that 
is the starting point of this desultory paper. 

Upon this stone is graven the following striking epitaph : 

God wills us free ; man wills us slaves. 
I will as God wills ; God's will be done. 

Here lies the Vjody of 
JOHN JACK 
A native of Africa who died 
March 1773, aged about 60 years. 

Tho' born in a land of slavery. 

He was born free. 

Tho' he lived in a land of liberty. 

He lived a slave. 

Till by his honest, tho' stolen, labors, 

He acquired the source of slavery, 

Which gave him his freedom ; 

Tho' not long before 



Death, the grand tyrant, 

Gave him his final emancipation, 

And set him on a footing with kings. 

Tho' a slave to vice. 

He practised those virtues 

Without which kings are but slaves. 

The reason, then why this monument stands comparatively isolated, 
is not far to seek : — Jack was a negro. Tiue, at the time of his death he 
was a substantial citizen, a land holder, with an estate to be devised and 
bequeathed and administered upon ; a member of the church in good 
standing, with a soul to be saved or damned ; and thus, both from a 
worldly and from the spiritual point of view, entitled to rank along with 
his "even Christians." But I have noticed, as if in order to mark and 
emphasize the natural distinction between white and black, that in every 
old burying place that I have visited, (and my acquaintance with such 
places is an extensive one,) I have always found the graves of negroes 
carefully relegated to the obscure corners of the ground, along with those 
of paupers and criminals, as though our pious ancestors had taken care 
that when should take place that opening of the graves and literal bodily 
resurrection of the dead, which was to them the one future occurrence 
of which they were confidently sure, these lower ranks of human kind 
should come up in their proper place, — in the rear of the great proces- 
sion. 

But be that as it may, John Jack's epitaph has made him immortal. 
Poets and philosophers, scholars and soldiers, learned jurists, eloquent 
divines and saintly women lie buried in Concord, who had won in life a 
valid title to immortality, and who need not that any tombstone should 
record their virtues or that any epitaph should keep their memories green. 
These are secure, for they have joined 

"* * * the choir invisible 
Of those immortal dead who live again 
In minds made better by their presence ; live 
In pulses stirred to generosity. 



In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 

For miserable aims that end with self, 

In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, 

And with their mild persistence urge men's search 

To vaster issues." 

Others there are, of the undistinguished crowd, who yet have left 
their mark for good or ill upon our ancient town, or whose homely vir- 
tues are still cherished by their own posterity, and so have earned their 
immortality, — because 

"To live in hearts we leave behind 
Is not to die." 

But for this poor slave, without ancestry, without posterity, without 
kindred, of a despised and alien race, a social pariah, his title to immor- 
tality is found only in his epitaph, which has made him, to his own race, 
the prophet of that great deliverance that was to come to them in blood 
and fire, a century after he had worked out his own emancipation. 

God wills us free ; man wills us slaves. 
I will as God wills ; God's will be done. 

Of the inscription itself, Shattuck, the historian of Concord, writing 
more than half a century ago, remarks that even then it had been exten- 
sively copied, l^he same writer, in a communication in the local news- 
paper in 1838, narrates that one of the British officers who were sent by 
General Gage to Concord in search of information as to the resources 
and operations of the patriots in the early spring of 1775, found time 
from his other duties to copy this inscription, and include it in a letter 
home, which was published m a London newspaper. This must have 
been witliin two years after the stone was first set up. Did the writer of 
the epitaph himself imagine, or did the Briton who read and copied it 
even suspect that the grand exordium, "God wills us free ; God's will be 
done," was as truly prophetic of the fast approaching liberty of the Colo- 



nies, as of the freedom, that, in the more distant future, was, by the will 
of God, to descend upon the American Negro? Perhaps not, for the 
author of the epitaph was Daniel Bliss, the oldest son of the Rev. Daniel 
Bliss, and a brother-in-law of Concord's patriot pastor the Rev. William 
Emerson, but himself so hostile to the patriot cause that he was soon 
obliged to flee from his home, to which he never returned, but spent the 
rest of his life in British land, and died, as he had lived, a faithful and 
conscientious subject of the English crown. 

Since that first publication of John Jack's epitaph, it has been 
copied and printed times without number both in this country and 
abroad. I have met with it translated into German and French, and 
quite recently a Norwegian acquaintance showed me a newspaper he had 
just received from home, containing a letter from one of our local 
Scandinavian colonists describing old Concord and quoting this same 
epitaph. From peculiarities of its grammatical, or rather rhetorical, 
construction, and from the fact that it almost translates itself into Latin, 
I am inclined to think that Mr Bliss, who was a scholar, and a Latinist, 
wrote it originally in that tongue. It turns up every little while in some 
newspaper, sometimes with the addition of circumstances of place, etc., 
and sometimes merely as a literary curiosity, but always without the 
least bit of appreciative criticism of its real literary quality, or of recog- 
nition of its real point, and significance. I think I am not extravagant in 
calling it the most famous epitaph in America, and in saying that no 
other one, whether of statesman, scholar or soldier, artist, or poet or 
philanthopist, has been so widely copied, or read by so many people, as 
has this that marks the grave of an obscure and nameless negro. 

The stone that bears this famous inscription is not the one originally 
erected. That had been broken and overthrown, and lay for some years 
on the ground beside the grave, until some time about the year 1830, the 
Hon. Rufus Hosmer of Stow, a native of Concord, whose extensive 
practice at the bar called him here at every session of the County Courts 
recognizing perhaps that here was one of the most perfect epitaphs ever 



written, in danj^er of becoming utterly lost, started a subscription 
among tbe members of the Middlesex bar, to procure the present stone, 
which is as nearly as possible z. facsimile of the original. For many 
years during the anti-slavery times, which began about the time this sec- 
ond stone was erected and which ended with the emancipation, this grave 
almost alone of all the graves in the Hill Burying Ground, was carefully 
tended and looked after ; lilies were planted upon it, the clinging lichens 
were not permitted to gather upon the stone, and the long rank grass 
that might have hidden it was kept shorn and trimmed to a decorous 
smoothness. This was the self-appointed work of Mary Rice, a little old 
gentlewoman who lived hard by ; quaint in dress and blunt of speech, 
and with the kindest heart that ever beat ; eccentric to a marked degree 
even among the eccentric people that Concord has always been popularly 
considered to abound in. She was devoted to all the ''reform" causes 
of the day, and particularly to the anti-slavery movement, and was an 
active and enthusiastic agent of the "Underground Railway," an institu- 
tion by the way, of which Concord was one of the principal stations. 
Many a fugitive found refuge, and, if needed, concealment, in her cottage 
or from her scanty purse was furnished the means to help him onward 
toward a free county. To her the epitaph of John Jack had a meaning ; 
it was more than a mere series of brilliant antitheses ; it was a prophecy 
and a promise. The humble grave upon the hill-side was a holy sepul- 
chre ; its nameless tenant was the prophet and Messiah of the gospel of 
freedom. She has been dead for more than thirty years, but the grave 
she tended so carefully still shows the traces of her care, and the succes- 
sors of the lilies she planted upon it still bloom scantily there in the 
summer days, and keep her memory gieen. 

I wonder, when Rufus Hosmer set about the restoration of this tomb- 
stone, if he was moved thereto in any degree by the story which he must 
have heard often repeated m his childhood, of his father's encounter with 
Daniel Bliss on the last occasion that gentleman paiticipated in a public 
meeting in his native town. Mr. Bliss, was, as I have said, a Royalist, 



and had taken a wife from a leading Tory family of Worcester county. 
At a convention held in December 1774 in Concord's old meeting-house, 
(a building doubly sacred to us on account of the many patriotic meetings 
of the Sons of Liberty that were held within its hallowed walls,) for the 
consideration of the Boston Port Bill, Mr. Bliss, who had been one of the 
Counsellors and Barristers that had given their advice to Gov. Hutchin- 
son as to the condition of the country, made an earnest and powerful 
speech in opposition to the ideas and purposes of the patriots. A fine 
scholar, a well-trained lawyer, eloquent, logical, witty, sarcastic, a son 
of the recently deceased and highly esteemed pastor of the village, and 
brother-in-law to the joung and eloquent divine who had succeeded to 
the pastoral office and by his enthusiastic and powerful espousal of the 
people's cause had become almost the idol of the patriots, Mr. Bliss was 
personally a very popular man among his neighbors, in spite of his 
fidelity to the royal cause. His speech on this occasion had great effect, 
and at its close the hearts of the whole assembly sank in discouragement, 
so powerfully had he portrayed the apparent hopelessness of the struggle 
between the weakness of the provincials and the mighty power of Britain, 
then mistress of the world. For a time there was a moody and despair- 
ing silence, but at length a plainly dressed citizen, like Mr. Bliss a young 
man and a native of Concord, arose to reply, speaking at first with hes- 
itating diffidence, as one unused to any higher flights of oratory than 
were demanded by the narrow exigencies of the town meeting, but grad- 
ually warming with his subject, as his own sense of the rights of the pro- 
vincials and the usurpations of the British ministry pressed more and 
more strongly upon him, and finally breaking out into a strain of un- 
taught eloquence that carried all before it, and changed, as if by magic, 
the disheartened temper of his auditors to one of stern and high resolve 
that the rights of the people should be maintained at whatever cost. 

Mr. Bliss, who had carefully noted the effect of his own speech, was 
greatly disconcerted, and in reply to the question of a Worcester county 
delegate as to who was the young man who had spoken so forcibly, said 



that it was Joscpli Hosmcr, a Concord mechanic, who had learned his 
English at his mother's knee, and was the most dangerous rebel in Con- 
cord, for the young men were all with him, and would surely follow 
where he led. It was not many weeks afterward that the young men, 
gathered in arms on Punkatasset hill, were formed in battalion by Joseph 
llosmer, acting as adjutant, and were again inspired by his words to raise 
those arms against the soldiers of their King, and along with him to take 
the one irrevocable step, — the first, — in the long march that ended years 
later at York Town. At this December meeting was the last public ap- 
pearance of Mr. Bliss among his townsmen of Concord, but exactly as 
they threw themselves with increasing ardor into the cause of revolution, 
so did he more and more earnestly attempt to counteract their plans, and 
Identify himself more thoroughly with the ministerial party, until, even 
before the actual beginning of the war, he foimd himself obliged to seek 
his personal safety by fleeing to the protection of the British soldiery. 

Can we not imagine that Joseph Hosmer's son, more than fifty years 
afterwards, was moved by some chivalric impulse to preserve the only 
relic that remained here of his father's old friend and enemy, — the in- 
scription that prophesied liberty even to the humblest, in the name of 
God ? 

Daniel Bliss was born in Concord in the year 1740, and graduated at 
Harvard College in 1760. In 1765 he was admitted to the Worcester 
county bar, and began practice immediately thereafter at Rutland, where 
he married Isabella, the daughter of Col. John Murray. Murray was a 
firm and outspoken supporter of the royal cause, and a rich and influen- 
tial man. His neighbors, who were mostly patriots, at length became 
very much incensed against him, and sent him word that on a certain 
day a committee of one thousand persons, headed by Major Willard 
Moore who a few months later fell at Bunker Hill, would call upon him 
to remonstrate with him. Col. Murray, distrustful of the nature of the 
remonstrance that might be offered by so large a committee, and deem- 
ing the odds of one thousand to one too great for even his masterful 



10 

spirit to encounter, prudently left home the day before the remonstrants 
were to call, and never returned. His estate was afterward confiscated 
by the government. Mr. Shattuck and others represent that Daniel Bliss 
imbibed his toryism from Col. Murray. Perhaps so; but his father, the 
Rev. Daniel Bliss, who was living when the storm of rebellion first 
began to gather, was a staunch royalist, and in many public utterances 
showed his devotion to the cause of the King. The younger Daniel, then 
just coming to man's estate, very naturally took the side that his father 
espoused. When he came to set himself down to the practice of law at 
Rutland, his political predilections and his business interests as well, at- 
tracted him to the side of established law and settled institutions, and the 
connection with Murray was inevitable. Rutland, it may be remarked, 
was largely a colony of Concord, and many of our oldest Concord names 
are still prevalent there. 

Mr. Bliss did not remain many years at Rutland ; in the year 1772 he 
purchased from John Barrett a house in the centre of the village of Con- 
cord, on what is now Walden street, the second house from the corner of 
Main street, which has been torn down within the last thirty years. It 
was at this house that Capt. Brown and Ens. De Berniere of the British 
army were entertained by Mr. Bliss, when they visited Concord on the 
20th of March 1775, in obedience to the orders of Gen. Gage, "to ex- 
amine the roads and situation of the town, and also to get what informa- 
tion they could relative to what quantity of artillery and provisions" had 
been collected there. Situated in the very centre of the town, it was an 
admirable "coign of vantage" from which to observe a good part of what 
was going on. Capt. Timothy Wheeler's mill, where flour was being 
steadily manufactured for the use of the rebels, was not two hundred feet 
away ; Reuben Brown's saddlery shop, where harnesses and cartridge 
boxes and accoutrements were making, was but a little further ; the store- 
house where the collected material for war was deposited was close by ; 
Mr. Bliss was thoroughly alive to all that was going on about him, and 
knew every foot of the territory, in which he had lived almost all his life. 



11 

The spies had hardly need to step outside his door to find material for the 
report they made to Gen. Gage a few days after, which convinced that 
experienced commander that decisive measures must be taken without 
delay. 

Rut if Mr. Bliss's house was an easy place to watch from, it was 
equally an easy place to watch, and the officers had not been 
there many minutes before there presence was known, and their 
errand more than susj^ected. Doubtless this visit was a great ad- 
vantage to the patriots as well as to Gen. Gage, for it was an umistakable 
hint to them that an armed expedition might soon be looked for, and 
that it behooved them to be in readiness to meet it. Thus far Mr. Bliss's 
family connections, and his own personal popularity, (which, apart from 
political considerations, was very great,) had shielded him from personal 
violence, but this last offence, of harboring spies in his own house, broke 
down the patience of the people, and they threatened to kill both him 
and his visitors. The two officers remained until late at night when the 
vigilance of the patriots was somewhat relaxed, and then accompanied 
by their host as a guide, went out of the town by a circuitous and un- 
watched road. His wife and children and all his personal possessions 
were left behind, but a few weeks later he sent his brother Samuel to 
Concord to make arrangements for saving what could be saved of his 
household effects, and for getting his family safely away. Like Daniel, 
Samuel was a loyalist, but he had been living for several years in Wor- 
cester county, and although Concord people knew him well, both person- 
ally and politically, they were not so much exasperated against him as 
against his brother. Still they were suspicious of him, and when the 
rumour had at length obtained credence that he had helped to pilot the 
British force to Concord on the.l9th of April, and hail given them sug- 
gestions as to where to search for contraband of war, and had even 
pointed out the dwelling places of the leading rebels, the townspeople 
arrested him, and brought him befor Esquire Duncan Ingraham for ex- 
amination, on the 12th of May. Ingraham himself was strongly sus- 



12 

pected of being a royalist at heart, but he was not only the wealthiest 
citizen of the town, but also the one most gifted with worldly wisdom 
for he had been a successful merchant and sea-captain, and had travelled 
all over the world with his eyes open. His influence was great, and he 
knew enough, moreover, to keep his usually rough tongue in check, and 
to wait until he knew which side was coming out ahead, before he com- 
mitted himself. After the war was over he became a full-fledged patriot 
and talked much about the independence of his country. I may mention 
in passing, that he was the grandfather of that Capt. Ingraham of the U. 
S. Navy who attained some celebrity in the Martin Koszta affair a gen- 
eration ago. Before this worthy magistrate, as I have said, Samuel Bliss 
was brought, but proved by the testimony of four witnesses that he had 
been in Boston all day on the 19th of April, and was therefore discharg- 
ed from custody. He was fully persuaded, however, that the people 
would watch their opportunity to arrest him on some other charge, and 
so retreated immediately to Boston. Shortly afterward he received a 
commission as Lieutenant in the British army, and served with consider- 
able distinction during the war, retiring after the war was over, with the 
rank of Captain, and settling in New Brunswick, where he passed the rest 
of his life. Daniel Bliss also joined the British army, in which he held 
the rank of Colonel and was attached to the commissary department and 
stationed at Quebec. 

Thus it will be seen that two sons of the Rev. Daniel Bliss were in the 
British army. The other two joined the patriot army, and both held 
commissions. Of the latter two, Thomas Theodore, the one of whom 
his brother Daniel said to the English officers that he "would fight them 
in blood up to his knees," was a brave and efficient officer, but was un- 
fortunate enough to be taken prisoner early in the war, and was not re- 
leased until the British forces evacuated New York after the peace. It 
has been surmised that his brother Daniel used his personal influence to 
prevent his earlier release or exchange, in order to keep him out of 
harm's way, or restrain him from doing mischief to the royal cause. 



13 

The other brother, Joseph, was a clerk in Knox's book-store in Boston, 
and when his employer abandoned business in order to become Washing- 
ton's Chief of Artillery, the boy accompanied him to the field, and served 
with credit in the successive grades of Ensign, Lieutenant and Captain. 

Daniel Bliss's estate was the only one in Concord confiscated by the 
General Court, and on the 6th of March 1781, "Commissioners for the 
sale of the estates of Conspirators and Absentees lying within the county 
of Middlesex," of which Commission, Joseph Hosmer of Concord was a 
member, disposed of his house and lands by auction, for £278 : 2 : 10. 
The estates of his brother Samuel, and his father-in-law, Col. Murray in 
Worcester county came under the same Act of Sequestration. 

In one of the Rev. William Emerson's letters to his wife from Ticon- 
deroga in the summer of 1776, he speaks of his inability to forward a letter 
to her brother Daniel in Quebec, all communication through the lines 
being strictly forbidden. But I do not find that Col. Bliss kept up any 
communication with his relatives here after the peace. Indeed, so 
thoroughly had he expatriated himself, that even the portraits of his 
parents, specially bequeathed to him by his father, were never claimed, 
but remain to this day in Concord. The war being over, he resigned his 
commission in the Army, and settled at Frederickton, New Brunswick, 
where he entered upon the practice of the law. There was a large col- 
ony of refugees from New England there in New Brunswick, men who 
had been wealthy at home, but who had lost everything by their espousal 
of the royal cause. Many of them, like Col. Bliss, were men of culture 
and ability, graduates of Harvard College, or (less frequently) of Yale, 
representatives of what Dr. Holmes calls "The Brahmin Caste of New 
England." Among them all, there was not one who in natural force of 
character and in the ability that comes from education and training, was 
the cvp'^'ior of Daniel Bliss, and he very quickly built up a large and 
lucrative practice, by which he not only repaired his shattered fortune, 
but also gained a position at the head of the New Brunswick bar, and 
was in a few years appointed a member of His Majesty's Council for that 



14 

Province. Later in life he was raised to the Bench, and became Chief 
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He died at his country residence 
of Belmont in 1806. His sons inherited the family characteristics. The 
elder, who bore the name of his father and grandfather, entered the 
British army, and settled in Ireland, where his descendants still live. 
John Murray Bliss, the younger son, succeeded to his father's estate of 
Belmont. He was a lawyer, and became successively Solicitor General 
and Judge, and during an interregnum consequent upon the death of the 
royal Governor, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief and Adminis- 
trator of the Province. Just before the war of 1812, and in anticipation 
of trouble with the United States, he was put in command of the provin- 
cial militia, there being at that time no English regular troops in the 
Province. Both these sons of Daniel Bliss were natives of Massachu- 
setts. The descendants of the younger still remain in New Brunswick, 
and the family have been especially prominent there in the Church and 
at the Bar. 

Col. Bliss is described as a man of fine presence, and engaging, though 
somewhat aristocratic manners ; brilliant and witty in conversation, and 
a powerful public speaker ; a fine scholar, a clear and logical thinker, a 
sound lawyer, an eloquent pleader, and a man o spotless integrity. We 
may well believe all this of him, when we consider his birth and his early 
training, and the high position he attained at the bar and on the bench, 
and we may well regret that his high qualities and brilliant talents were 
not devoted to the service of his native land. 

As 1 have already said, a large propoi'tion of the loyalists of the 
American Revolution were men of learning and culture, or men of wealth. 
I think it would surprise one who has not looked into the matter, to 
compare the list of those proscribed by the General Court in 1779, with 
the list of graduates of Harvard College for the twenty years immediately 
preceding the war. The ministers of the New England church were for 
the most part ranged on the side of the people, but the Episcopal clergy, 
and the laity too, were, almost to a man, royalists, and so were nearly 



15 

all tlie lawyers, and a large proportion of the physicians. These were 
men whom the infant State could ill afTord to lose, and doubtless if the 
same course had been taken with them after the war, that was adopted 
by the United States toward her disloyal sons eighty-five years later, it 
would have been a wise and prudent policy, that would have strengthened 
rather than weakened the new and then experimental government. That 
these men were honest in their political convictions, and courageous in 
the maintenance of them, we can not doubt, now that we look upon 
them with clearer eyes and less impassioned judgment through the long 
perspective of more than a hundred years. Who shall say that Daniel 
and Samuel -Bliss were less brave or less conscientious than their 
brothers Thomas and Joseph.? They were all of one blood and lineage. 
If the younger two risked "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honour," so did the elder two, equally, and as the event turned out, still 
more hopelessly. I fancy it required as much courage, and exactly the 
same kind of courage, to be a loyalist in Massachusetts in 1775, as it did 
to be a Union man in South Carolina in 1861 ; — the courage to stand 
up for one's own conviction of right, in the face of a whole community 
filled with a burning sense of wrong, and fully tletermined to appeal to 
the last resort of armed rebellion. 

Do not imagine that I think it would have been better had the war of 
independence failed. No : — God willed us free ; God's will had to be 
done ; and we can not for a moment doubt that not America alone, but 
the whole world as well, was beyond all measure the gainer, by the 
failure of the cause for which Daniel Bliss fought, and for which he 
suffered exile. I have only tried to give you some faint glimpse of the 
real character of the gentleman, scholar, soldier and jurist whom his 
native town remembers only by the opprobrious epithet of "Tory." 
******* 

But we have wandered far from our starting point, the humble grave 
upon our hillside. Let us get back to it, and see how much we can 
reconstruct of John Jack's individuality from the materials accessible to 



16 

us. It is not much, for a life so unimportant as that of a negro slave 
leaves but few traces, even in village annals. Of his life as a slave we 
know nothing except that his master was Benjamin Barron. Slavery in 
New England was a very mild form of servitude, and Barron like most 
of his neighbors was a yeoman or farmer, so we may fairly imagine that 
Jack's life was not much harder or more laborious than that of a hired 
farm hand, or even than that of his master, in those days, when farming 
meant hard work, long hours and plain living for both master and man. 
That he was a good servant and a good Christian we m-iy infer from the 
brief eulogy graven upon his tomb stone, — that "he practised those 
virtues without which kings are but slaves," — a lofty testimonial indeed, 
that even the best of men might be proud to deserve. 

Benjamin Barron, who was by trade a cordwainer, but had apparently 
been driven by advancing age to abandon that business, and devote him- 
self entirely to his farm, lived half a mile east of the village, on the Bos- 
ton road, in a little cottage known in our day as "the old Dutch house," 
destroyed but a few years ago, and in a back room of which the marks 
of its use as a shoemaker's shop were visible up to the time of its destruc- 
tion, — the four holes worn in the floor by the feet of the bench, and the 
deeper and wider hollow channelled outbv the feet of the workman him- 
self. He died in 1754 ; — is there another man of his time whose very 
footprints we of to-day have seen ? His estate, which was a considerable 
one for those days, was administered by his daughter Susanna. In the 
inventory, after the customary list of household furniture and the like, 
appear these items : — 

"One Negro servant named Jack £120: 0: 

"One Negro maid named Vilot, being of no valine." 

So we see what was the money value, to our revered forefathers, of a 
very superior article of human property (in the very best years of his life 
for he was then about forty two years old,) endowed with much more 
than the customary allowance of virtues. I hope our women's rights 



17 

friends will not take it hard that poor Violet, who was only four years 
older, was considered as not only of no value, but even as an encum- 
brance upon the estate ; for when fifteen years later an agreement was 
made among the Barron heirs for the partition of the property, after the 
death of the widow, I find written upon the petition, in the hand writing 
of S. Danforth, Judge of Probate, — "Qiiaere : about the negro, — whether 
the portions ought not to be made payable only on condition that the sev- 
eral heirs do their parts toward her support, or give security to do it ;" 
and when a final settlement was made, Susanna, who took the homestead 
Agreed "that she would take the negro woman belonging to the estate 
as her own, and that she would support her in sickness and health, she 
having the benefit of her labor." But, after all, Violet outlived her mis- 
tress, and died in 1789, aged 80 years. 

But to get back to John Jack : the first thing to be said about him is, — 
that that was not his name, except as he may have assumed it after becom- 
ing free. He stands on the church records as "Jack, Negro." Our 
good ancestors would admit negroes, free or slaves, to the full communion 
of their churches, (though they did not allow them to sit among the 
white people,) the ministers would baptise the colored babies and give 
them their proper start in the way of life, but as for family names — 
what did the negro want of a family name? One name was enough, if 
you simply added the word Negro to it. We have seen that in the in- 
ventory of the Barron estate he is named ]ack. He must have been very 
industrious in "his honest tho' stolen labors," and in a veiy few years 
acquired the £120 of "the source of slavery" which was the price of his 
freedom ; for by the year 1761 he had not only done that, but had also 
bought for £16 from Susanna Barron, his old master's daughter, "four 
acres of plow land in the great or common fields so-called," and from 
another party, at about the same time, for £6 : 13 : 4, two acres more, in 
the same localitv. In the deed of the first of these purchases he is called 
"a certain Negro man called John, a Free man, now resident at said 
Concord, a laborer." The second deed runs to "Jack, a free Negro 



18 

man, late servant to Benjamin Barron, deceased." The great fields, 
where this property lay, were then, and until quite a recent period, 
held m common by the associated proprietors, and in their records, from 
that time until his death, I find him set down as Jack Barron. Later he 
bought a lot of two and a half acres in the great meadow, upon which he 
built his house, and the spot has been occupied by negro families ever 
since, until a very few years ago. 

He supported himself by working out for the farmers at odd jobs, hay- 
ing, pig-killing and the like, and by going around among the farms in 
the winter cobbling shoes. In December, 1772, being sick and weak 
in body, he made his will, by which he bequeathed "to Violet, a negro 
woman, commonly called Violet Barnes, and now dwelhng with Susanna 
Barron of said Concord," all his lands, and also all of his "personal 
estate, with residue and remainder of all his worldly goods and effects 
whatsoever, his luneral charges and just debts being first paid." Beside 
his real estate the inventory comprises, among other things, a cow and 
calf, a good pair of oxen, some farming tools, a bible and psalm book 
and seven barrels of cider. His will appoints Daniel Bliss Esq. as exe- 
cutor, and is signed John Jack, in the writing of the person who drafted 
it, and a tremulous and straggling cross, his mark. Perhaps he was too weak 
to write, perhaps he did not know how, though the bible and psalm 
book would seem to indicate the ability to read, unless indeed he kept 
these books, as so many of our more modern Christians do, for exhibition 
purposes, rather than for practical use. The seven barrels of cider looks 
like a large allowance for the private use of a man without family, and 
gives confirmation to the tradition that the vice to which his gravestone 
tells us he was a slave, was one which he shared in common with a good 
many of his white neighbors, in those days when "the temperance cause" 
had not been invented. Whether his old fellow-servant Violet benefited 
anything from his estate I know not, but being still in law and in fact 
the slave of Susanna Barron, it was not possible for her to own real 
estate, a circumstance that seems to have been overlooked both by Jack 



10 

lilmself, and the person who drafted his will. Probably neither Violet 
nor her mistress, nor any one else, remembered that Violet was a slave ; 
but when the title came to be transferred to the negro woman, that fact 
had to be considered, and Jack's small holding becameagain the property 
of Susanna Barron. Here Jack's record stops, and we know no more of 
him. His old mistress survived him, and died in 1784, still unmarried. 
Her grave and the graves of her parents are unmarked and unknown, 
while by the irony of fate their old slave rests beneath a stone that bears 
an epitaph that will never be forgotten. 

* * * * * * * 
And this epitaph : — is it not also an epigram ? Can we not read in it 
something more than what it says.-* It appears to me that there is in it 
the suggesticjn of a caustic satire upon the ideas of our revolutionary fore- 
fathers, who were clamoring for liberty for themselves, while they held 
in servitude and bought and sold the natives of Africa, who were born 
free in a land of slavery. " Liberty " was the one word of all others that 
Daniel Bliss heard the oftenest, among his neighbors ; the one subject 
that took precedence of all others in every publif. meeting and in every 
private conversation. Can we not find in the words, "a land of liberty" 
where a freeborn man could be compelled to live a slave, a sneer at what 
he felt was the hollowness and insincerity of the popular craze of the day ? 
Is not the same idea further carried out in the suggestion that the slave 
could honestly steal from him by whom he was himself stolen ? To Mr. 
Bliss and his fellow royalists, the struggle that the patriots were making, 
was suTiply a resistance to taxation ; merely a question of pounds, shil- 
lings and pence ; the rebels were determined that they would not put out 
any of their hardly won cash for the support of a royal government, 
whose protection they still enjoyed. Can we not sec this idea in the 
allusion to "the source of slavery".'* Does not the very opening line, 
''God wills US free," and the solemn aspiration that follows it, "God's 
will be done," at once convey a sneer at the liberty-loving slave-holders. 



20 

a rebuke of slavery itself as morally a sin, and a prophecy that that sin 
should yet be expiated ? 

This epitaph of an American slave, by an American tory, is the oldest 
of anti-slavery utterances; the first statement that I have been able to find 
anywhere, of the fundamental thesis of the later abolitionists, that slavery 
is in itself a sin, contrary to the will of God. It must be borne in mind 
that in 1773 slavery was a state recognized by every country in 
the world, as a part of the law of the land ; an established feature 
of society everywhere. It was not until twenty years after John Jack's 
gravestone was set up, that any nation abolished slavery by law, and 
tlien it was France that did so, in the hysterical fury of her great revolu- 
tion. In the year of grace 1773, not the state only, but the church as 
well, sustainec^ slavery ; it was part not alone of political constitutions 
and social institutions, but of religious systems also : a necessary and 
fundamental part of the divine economy ; a feature of God's eternal pur- 
pose. Christianity was the bulwark and defence of slavery. It was not 
until the year 1775 that any body of Christian believers proclaimed its 
sinfulness ; in that year the Quakers resolved that no member of their 
faith should hold slaves. But the Quakers were heretics, (if not lunatics) 
in the eyes of all branches of the Christian church. In 1773 it was sedi- 
tious to doubt the political lawfulness of slavery, and blasphemous to 
call in question its moral rightfulness. Daniel Bliss's bold thesis, — 
God wills us free, — was as shocking to the political and moral ideas of 
his time, as was Wendell Phillips's "God damn the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts" to the political and moral ideas of some eighty years later. 

In the public square at Concord stands a monument to the memory of 
her sons who, in the late civil war, gave up their lives in defence of the 
principle of national freedom and unity ; by the side of her quiet river her 
noble Minute-man keeps his unceasing watch over the spot where her 
sons stood to defend the principle ot national independence. Both of 
these monuments are typical of political, and, in a sense, local and re- 
stricted ideas, narrow principles touching merely institutions and policies. 



21 

But earlier than either, over the grave of a nameless slave in her ancient 
burying ground, stands the plain gray slab of slate that typifies the far 
higher idea which is of <"he constitution of humanity itself, — the principle 
of individual personal liberty. 

We look in vain in the writings or speeches of our patriot fathers for 
any enunciation of this principle, for any condemnation of slavery as a 
sin against the moral government of the world. That was reserved for 
the man they called a Tory, — the man who believed that personal free- 
dom was the God-given birthright of humanity, and whose clear and in- 
telligent vision pierced through the mists of future years to the glorious 
time when that birthright should be everywhere acknowledged. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 



Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Hevwood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 



Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

Tclepho7ic Co)inection. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor. 
Concord, Mass. 

OfF Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1 747- 1 776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards, 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Battle, April 19, 1775. 

OLD NORTH BRIDGE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages with competent guides to 

meet all cars on Monument Square, 

the centre of all points of historic 

interest: 

Carriages may be ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
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have instructed the guides the associa- 
tion of the points of interest, which 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, /lass. 

J. W. CULL, Hanager. 



MGMANUS BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 



Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, s* Mass. 

Opposite Fitchburg Depot. 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES. 

SPORTING GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

RENTING, REPAIRING 

AND TEACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
your Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

SHOP, MONUMENT ST., Telephone U-S 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telephone 28-4 



"' MISS BUCK'S 

MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, witii Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 

Thoreau Penholders, 15c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 
Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 

For sale bv 

H.S. RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 



Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the tew Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 
Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLEX SON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
CoKcoRD, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
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Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE, 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



At... 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 
may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 



GUIDE BOOKS 



and books by 



CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 




Druggist. 


The Colonial, 




Monument Square, 


Huyler's Candies 


Concord, Massachusetts. 


Souvenir Postal Cards 






WILLIAM E. RAND, 


Photographs, etc. 


Proprietor. 


Concord, - Mass. 





TWO BOOKS by -Hargaret Sidney. 



Old Concord: Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, $2.00. 

'One of the clioicest souvenirs of the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

"It is written in a stvle as delightful and enticinsf as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's ' Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 



A Romance of the 
no., illustrated by 



Little Maid of Concord Town (A). 

American Revolution. One volume, i: 
Frank T. Merrill. I1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famousNorth Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 
such a story as young people like ; as the founder of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys "and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 



LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiqitarian 

Society 

are from 

Zhc ipatriot press 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

The Middlesex Patriot (w^ikiy) 
'The Erudite (monthly) 
Concord^ A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pav for 



'-S 



^be ^own of Concor^ 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 



BIRTHS, 
AND 



MARRIAGES 
DEATHS 



from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for $5 each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



THE PLANTATION 

OF MUSKETEQUID 



BY ALBERT E. WOOD, C. E. 



(S^ RECEIVED V 

\^AR9-1904 



"A truly grtat historical novel." — Omaha World-Herald. 

THE COLONIALS 

By ail.il.en French: 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has written a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few weeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle says : 
" It is seldom that we are favored with so strong, so symmet- 
rical, so virile a work ... a work of romantic fiction of 
an order of merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 
Price ff^iih Colonial Decorations $1.50 

The Furniture of Our Forefathers 

By ESTHER SINGLETON 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which arc in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net. Write for prospectus. 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, N.Y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY; 

House on Lexington Road 

Containing a large collection of 

.OCAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RELICS, CHINA, 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 

is open every afternoon from May i to November 
at which times the Secretary will be 
in attendance 

Admission 25 Cents 



!I5 




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THE PLANTATION 

AT MUSKETEQUID 



READ BEFORE THE 

CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY ALBERT E. WOOD, C. E. 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, 1886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 



THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . President. 

SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. . . .),,.„ 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 1 '^'^ ^--''-^^• 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 

The RF.V. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS. CONCORD. 



Plantation at Musketequid. 



F)ROBABLY the first surveyor, and perhaps the first 
* Englishman, who trod upon Concord's original six miles 
square, was William Wood. He came over with the first 
settlers, probably in 1629, and remained with the Colony 
till some time in the year 1633. During that time he must 
have made quite a careful survey of that part of New Eng- 
land then settled, and must have extended that survey as 
far into the wilderness as the Concord River. The map 
that he published in connection with his book, New Eng- 
land's Prospect^ is a wonderful production when we consider 
the short time he was here and the accuracy with which he 
describes and locates the principal parts upon it. I have 
examined it with considerable care to satisfy myself just 
how much of his surveying was done by chain and compass, 
and how much by the eye. My first thought was that he 
might have been guided by Captain John Smith's map of 
the coast, made a few years before, but a comparison 
of the two maps shows that no part of the coast line so 
carefully shown by William Wood is upon Captain Smith's 
map at all. One of Wood's methods in map making com- 
mends itself to me as worthy of notice, and that is that in 
showing a river he shows it as far as he knows about it and 
no farther ; but when he comes to the end of his knowl- 
edge, he carefully rolls it up in a ball — like a fern leaf in 
Spring — and leaves it for future explorers to unfold. The 



The Plantation 



Merrimac River he shows as far as Lowell, and the Con- 
cord a little above the present site of this town, and then 
he rolls them up. That he visited our river at this precise 
point, his very mistakes show us, and they show us also 
that he did not cross it. He gives us Nashawtuck Hill as 
an island, and he leaves out the North Branch entirely. 
This is a very natural and easy mistake for one to make 
who did not cross the river, especially if the water was 
high at the time of his visit. It shows that he saw it upon 
this aide, and did not go over it. The accuracy of his di- 
rections and distance from Watertown goes strongly to 
show that a survey was actually made from that place to 
some point on the river in this vicinity. And as he was 
the first man to mention the Musketequid, either as a river 
or as an Indian settlement, we may reasonably give him 
the credit of being its discoverer. That he was the first 
Englishman to come over here, there can be little doubt. 
I would like to say a few words further about William 
Wood. Mr. Shattuck says, in his History of Concord, 
that he was probably the William Wood who settled here in 
1638, and the ancestor of all the Woods in this vicinity, 
and, in fact, of nearly all of the name in the country. Now, 
however desirable it may be to place William Wood's book 
in the Concord Alcove in our Public Library, and to enroll 
his name am^ong the Concord Authors, and however gratify- 
ing it would be to me personally to be able to claim him 
as my Grandfather of eight generations back, yet with all 
this to open my eyes, I have not yet been able to find 
proof sufficient to do so, and there is beside, much to con- 
vince me to the contrary. The William Wood who set- 
tled here in 1638, was born in 1583, as is shown by his 
will, and was therefore about fiftv years old when New 



of Musketequid 



England's Prospect was published. The work required to 
write and publish such a book, and to make the investi- 
gations preparatory for such a map, is most often done by 
younger men. And again, a man with the talent and 
energy shown by the author of this book, would hardly 
have settled down and lost himself so completely in the 
poor complaining farmer, as never afterward to have been 
mentioned as the author, and I fail to find the Concord 
William mentioned as such, either in manuscript record or 
in tradition. And again, a man who had been considered 
worthy to receive the vote of thanks that was passed to 
him by the General Court in September 1634 for his ser- 
vices to the Colony (probably his flattering account of it in 
his book) would hardly have been forgotten when he came 
back here to live. Lynn claims that he settled there after 
his return to New England, but she has no better proof 
than Concord has, and I am inclined to doubt if he ever 
returned hither at all. 

Whatever surveys were made by William Wood were 
made before or during the year 1633. Within the next 
two or three years following there were, doubtless, a great 
many adventurers traveling through the wilderness in 
search of new and strange discoveries, — as Johnson says, 
"expecting every hour to see some rare sight never seen 
before." Among these adventurers, but with a fixed pur- 
pose and a knowledge, evidently, of what he was looking 
for, was Simon Willard, with his brother-in-law Dolor Da- 
vis, William Spencer, or some others of those instrumental 
in starting the new settlement at Musketequid. Fortu- 
nately we have an account of the trials and adventures of 
this party, written about fifteen years later by Edward 
Johnson of Woburn. Shattuck says that Johnson's busi- 



The Plantation 



ness connection with the citizens of Concord gave him 
good opportunity to become familiar with its early history. 
Being a MiUtary man and also a Deputy to the General 
Court for a good many years, he must often have met Ma- 
jor Willard and other leading citizens, and could easily 
have gotten from them the story he tells us of the adven- 
tures of this party. The fact of his receiving it at second 
hand, and probably from a good many diflferent persons 
each telling his own story and applying to it his own color- 
ing, added to the flict that the narrative had fifteen years to 
gi'ow in before it was recorded, will account for the slight 
discrepancies we find in it, and also will explain how he 
comes to get somewhat mixed in his story before he gets 
through with it. Mr. Johnson's account is, in part as fol- 
lows : — 

"Upon some inquiry of the Indians who lived to 
the Northwest of the Bay, one Simon Willard, being ac- 
quainted with them by reason of his trade, became a chief 
instrument in erecting this town [Concord]. The land 
they purchased of the Indians, and with much difficulties, 
travelling through unknown woods and through watery 
swamps, they discover the fitness of the place." 

This covers all of Johnson's story of this matter, and so 
tar is a simple statement of facts. Mr. Willard having 
found out from the Indians that there vv'as a desirable place 
for a settlement at Musketequid, came hither with a small 
party of men, and found the Indians' story to be true. This 
account of Johnson's is supported and supplemented by 
the fact that immediately after the expedition of which it 
tells, the General Court was petitioned for a grant of land 
and a charter for a Plantation, and the location was granted 
here at Musketequid. All the facts go to show that some- 



of Musketequtd 



body had looked the ground over carefully, and that the 
projectors knew what they were asking for. That Simon 
Willard was the leader in this^work we have no reason to 
doubt, for we know he was the acknowledged leader in all 
other enterprises of this kind that he joined in. Who the 
others were who shared with him in this particular under- 
taking, we have no means of finding out. Of the first set- 
tlers, who came here in the autumn of 1635, ^"^^ ^ little 
later, Roberc Fletcher was in the Colony as early as 1630; 
John Ball was at Watertown before 1635, ^^^^ ^^^ family; 
Simon Willard and Dolor Davis and William Spencer 
were in Cambridge in 1634, but 1 can find no other names 
of the first settlers of Concord recorded as being in the 
Colony in season to have joined him at the inception of the 
enterprise, and we know that most of them did not come 
over to New England until late in the summer of 1635, 
and so could have had no part in it. 

Continuing that portion of the story I have just quoted, 
Johnson goes on to elaborate it, by giving details of the ad- 
ventures and hardships of this little surveying party in their 
attempt to reach this land that the Indians had described. 
They evidently had a hard time, according to his story, but 
if they attempted to come in a straight line from Water- 
town to this place, any one familiar with the topography of 
the country they would have to pass through, will be pre- 
pared to believe almost any tale of hardship. I shall have 
occasion to quote further from Johnson's narrative later 
on. One thing, 1 think, is certain, — that Simon Willard 
and his party accomplished what they attempted ; that they 
discovered the fitness of Musketequid for a Plantation. 

After this discovery, the next item of local history of in- 
terest to us is found in the records of the Great and Gen- 



The Plantation 



eral Court of the Colony, under date of September 2, 
1635, [Old Style] as follows: — 

"It is ordered that there shall be a Plantation at Mus- 
ketequid, and that there shall be six miles square to belong 
to it, and that the inhabitants thereof shall have three years 
immunities from all public charges except trainings. Fur- 
ther, that when any that shall plant there shall have occa- 
sion of carrying of goods thither, they shall repair to two of 
the next magistrates where the teams are, who shall have 
power for a year to press draughts at reasonable rates to be 
paid by the owners of the goods to transport their goods 
thither at seasonable times. And the name of the place is 
changed, and henceforth to be called Concord." 

At the time this order was passed, nearly all of the set- 
tlers that came to Concord that Fall had arrived at Cam- 
bridge or Watertown, and they had probably organized 
for the Plantation and joined in the petition to the General 
Court. There is no other order of the Court, for the first 
ten years of its existence, that compares with this in the con- 
ciseness of its wording, or in the expressing so exactly what 
was wanted by the petitioners. It shows that wise heads 
had already joined in finding out just what they did want, 
and that they boldly asked for it, and although some of 
their requests were quite without precedent, they were 
granted apparently without hesitation. 

Shattuck says that traditionary authority asserts that the 
Settlement was first projected in England, but a moment's 
thought will show that this is impossible. Major Willard 
could not have discovered the fitness of the place for a 
settlement soon enough for our colonists to have heard of 
it before they started, and nothing that William Wood 
says in his book could have started the idea of a new plan- 



of Musketequid 



tation at Musketequid, for he does not mention the place 
except as the site of an Indian village. Besides, our colo- 
nists came from many parts of England, and could hardly 
have come together there in any one place. Peter Bulkeley 
and some, certainly, of the Wheelers, were from Bedford- 
shire, George Heywood was from Yorkshire, Thomas 
Flint from Derbyshire, Humphrey Barrett from Wiltshire, 
James Hosmer and the Meriams from Kent; all parts of 
the Kingdom, almost, were represented in the first little 
band of permanent settlers upon the plain of Concord, It 
seems evident to me that the settlement was a natural 
growth from the condition of the Massachusetts Bay Col- 
ony, and that we need to look no further for an explanation. 
Emigrants were coming over upon every ship. Of course 
they wanted land, and they could not get it in the planta- 
tions already started, without paying for it, as even at this 
early date they were beginning to feel distressed for want of 
room. 

This statement perhaps seems a little absurd, but let me 
quote a vote passed August 30, 1635, by ^^^ voters of 
Watertown, then the least crowded of all the settlements in 
the Colony. It stands upon the records, as follows : — 

"Agreed by the consent of the freemen, in consideration 
that there be too many inhabitants in the Town, and the 
Town thereby in danger to be ruinated^ that no foreigner 
coming into the Town, or any family arising among our- 
selves, shall have any benefits either of commonage or land 
undivided but what he shall purchase, except that they buy 
a man's right wholly in the Town." 

Watertown at that time, according to Bond, had about 
one hundred land owners. The territory owned by them 
included all of what is now Watertown, the greater part of 



lo The Plantation 

Waltham and Weston, and some parts of Lincoln and of 
Belmont. Poor fellows, — what a cramped condition they 
must have been in, and what imminent danger they were in 
to be "ruinated" by too many inhabitants. It is a relief to 
know that at the next session of the General Court the in- 
habitants were granted the privilege of moving out of the 
town if they wanted to. It is noticeable that this vote of 
Watertown was passed at Just the time our Concord colony 
was forming, and it doubtless expresses the feeling of all 
the towns toward new comers, or "foreigners." So that, in 
order to get land, a new colony had to be formed, and as 
Simon Willard, as we have seen, had just discovered a fit 
place for such new colony, the Concord Plantation was the 
natural result. This same greed for land existed in Con- 
cord only a few years later, as is shown by a petition to the 
Court in 1643, when six citizens, [four of whom were 
Wheelers], asked for more land, and complained that when 
they came here in 1639 they had to pay for all the land 
they had. This petition, by the way, was the entering 
wedge that finally gave what is now Acton to Concord for 
a feeding ground. And the division of this land, later on, 
between the new comers and the old settlers, gave the 
people a problem in fractions that, they ciphered upon for 
almost a hundred years before they solved it. 

Another point I wish to call attention to, before we change 
(by order of the General Court) the name of this place from 
Musketequid to Concord, and that is the spelling of the 
Indian name. Upon the original records of the General 
Court it is spelled as I have here given it, Musketequid, 
and it is spelled in the same way in the printed copy. It 
is spelled in the same way in the beautiful copy in Concord 
Town Hall, and indeed I fail to find any other orthography 



of Musket equid 



for it since the Court established it, until Mr. Shattuck 
printed his History of Concord. He spells it Musketaquid, 
and others since have followed him. If he had any author- 
iiy for this change, I fail to find it. It certainly could not 
have been for the sake of euphony, for I think the e gives 
it a much smoother sound than a. It seems to me that 
the General Court should be the authority in this matter. 
Our grant was doubtless written out by somebody who 
knew how the Indians pronounced the name, and who did 
his best to spell it just as it was pronounced. In remem- 
brance of these old Indians wc have named one of our 
streets after their old village. Perhaps we can not twist 
our tongues to pronounce its name just as they did, but we 
can at least do our best to get as near as possible to their 
pronunciation by retaining the spelling that represented it 
for two hundred years, from the time of good old William 
Wood, to the days of Shattuck, and that has moreover the 
authoritative sanction of the Great and General Court. 

But, to continue our story, whatever gave rise to the 
settlement here, one thing is certain, the General Court 
had granted them a charter, and not far from the first of 
October 1635 ^^^X were gathered together, men, women 
and children, ready to go forward and take possession. 
Of this matter of going forward I wish to speak at some 
length. No historian of that day has given us any account 
of this progress out into the wilderness. The Concord 
colony was the first so to go out. All the other Towns 
were near neighbors ; they were within sight of one an- 
other, and of the sea. There is a certain companionship 
with the sea that they all felt. They had spent months 
upon it. Their greatest pleasure had been to v*..fc!; the 
arrival and departure of the ships, and it ga .. to them a 



12 The Plantation 

certain feeling of nearness to the Fatherland. But our 
Concord company were to leave all this behind them. 
They were moving out into a wild woods filled with wild 
Indians and the still wilder beasts, and with the nameless 
spiritual and supernatural horrors with which the supersti- 
tious imagination of the Puritans peopled the gloomy 
shades of the forest, and this at the beginning of a winter 
the hardships of which they could only conjecture. Yet 
they had the courage to go forward, and I do not believe 
that, even for a moment, they were cast down or discour- 
aged. 

I have said that no historian of that day has given us an 
account of this going out into the wilderness. All the later 
historians of Concord, however, from Shattuck to the pres- 
ent time, refer to it as a hardship, and quote, in full or in 
part, that narrative of Johnson's of which I have spoken, 
as a proof of it, leaving the reader to understand, either by 
direct statement or by inference, that Johnson's story re- 
lates to the journey hither of those sixty or more men wo- 
men and children that we have just left all ready to move. 
Now the blood of at least eight of these brave fathers and 
mothers of Concord runs in my veins, and I think I have 
the right to protest against the injustice done them by this 
inference. I will quote the rest of Johnson's story, and I 
think you will join me in the protest. 

But before going on with Johnson, let me give you the 
names, as far as they can be ascertained, of those brave 
people who, facing all these hardships and dangers, came 
hither not for their own comfort or aggrandizement, but for 
the sake of the freedom and prosperity of their children and 
their children's children down to us, their descendants of to- 
day. We know circumstantially who the most of them 



of Musket eqii'id 13 



were. I may possibly mention names of persons who were 
not of the first party but who came later, and I may per- 
haps omit others that did belong to it, but about the most 
of them there can be no question. I will give them by 
families. 

The Rev. John Jones came in the ship Defiance, landing 
in New England October 3, 1635; with wife Sarah, aged 
thirty-four, and children Sarah aged fifteen ; John, eleven ; 
Ruth, seven ; Theophilus, three ; Rebecca, two, and Eliza, 
six months. Of these children, Sarah married Thomas 
Bulkeley. The family removed a few years later to Con- 
necticut. So far as is known they were not related to the 
family of the same name who came here later. 

William Judson, with wife Grace, and son Joseph, aged 
sixteen ; Jeremiah, fourteen, and Joshua, probably younger. 
This is the "Goodman Judson" whose name appears but 
once in our town records, in the order that "the meeting 
house shall stand on the hill near the brook, on the east 
side of Goodman Judson's lot." He is said also to have 
gone to Connecticut. 

William Svmons, (or Simonds) with wife Sarah, and 
three daughters ; Judith who married John Barker ; Sarah 
who married John Heywood ; and Mary, who married Rog- 
er Chandler. Descendants of all three daughters are now 
living in Concord. Shortly after the death of his wife (in 
1 641) William Symons removed to Woburn. 

Robert Fletcher, a Yorkshireman, with wife and three 
voung sons, Luke, William and Samuel. Another son, 
Francis, born here a little later, was probably the first child 
born of English parents in Concord. The descendants of 
Robert Fletcher are still numerous in this and the adjoin- 
ing towns. The Family Genealogy, printed a few years 



14 The Plantation 

ago, counted up four thousand Fletchers born in this 
country. 

Richard Griffin, with wife. He died in 1 66 1, childless. 

Walter Edmonds, with wife Dorothy, and four child- 
ren, of whom Mary became the wife of Luke Potter, and 
was in one line or another, a grandmother to about all of us 
scions of the old Concord families ; John, Joshua and Dan- 
iel, the sons of Walter Edmonds, left no trace upon our later 
records, and probably left the Town. 

William Fuller and wife Elizabeth, probably with 
no children, though children were born to them here later. 

George Towle with wife Mary and son John. He 
removed to Charlestown. 

John Evarts with wife and son James. Removed to 
Connecticut. Ancestor of the Honorable William M. 
Evarts. 

John Ball with wife and sons, John and Nathaniel. 
He had been living at Waterown. His descendants have 
been numerous in Concord, 

Simon Willard, age thirty, with wife Mary and two in- 
fant daughters. He was from Horsmonden, Kent, Eng- 
land, and had come to New England in 1634. 

James Hosmer, aged twenty-eight, with wife Ann aged 
twenty-seven, and two daughters, Mary aged two years, and 
Ann aged three months, from Kent, came to New England 
in the summer of 1635. Many of his descendents are still 
here. 

Jonathan Mitchel, with wife and two sons, David, a 
young lad, and Jonathan aged ten years. This Jonathan 
Jr. was afterward the Rev. Jonathan Mitchel of Cambridge. 
He succeeded the Rev. Mr. Shepard in the pulpit, and 



of Musketequid 1 5 



married his widow. He was also a Fellow of Harvard 
College. 

There were, beside these, the following unmarried men, 
William Buttrick aged eighteen, James Bennett, Richard 
Rice aged twenty-six, [these last two sailed with the Rev. 
Mr. Bulkeley], John Scotchford, William Hunt, and 
probably others, I might mention Thomas Brooks with 
wife Grace, and several children, George Hayward, John 
Fox, Henry Farwell with wife Olive, John Heald with wife 
Dorothy and son John, all of whom came, if not with the 
first party, at least shortly afterward. But without these, 
we have the names of nineteen men, fifteen women, and 
twenty-nine children ; sixty-three souls all told. 

And now, knowing what we do about the party, let us 
read the continuation of Johnson's narrative and see if it 
can in any way be applied to them. After the paragraph I 
have already quoted, which speaks of the finding by Simon 
Willard and his party of a fit place for a Plantation, he 
goes on : — 

"Sometimes passing through the thickets, where their 
hands are forced to break way for their bodies' passage, and 
their feet clambering over the crossed trees, which when 
they missed they siiik into an uncertain bottom in water, 
and wade up to their knees, tumbling sometime higher and 
sometimes lower. Wearied with this toil, they at the end 
of this meet with scorching plains, yet not so plain but that 
the ragged bushes scratch their legs fouly, even to wearing 
their stockings to their bare skin in two or three hours. If 
they are not otherwise well defended with boots or buskins, 
their flesh will be torn, — some of them being forced to 
pass on without further provision, have had the blood trickle 
down at every step. And in time of Summer, the sun cast 
such a reflecting heat from the sweet fern, whose scent is 
so very strong, that some herewith have been very near 



1 6 The Plantation 

fainting, altho very able bodies to endure much travel. 
And this not to be indured for one day, but for many ; and 
verily did not the Lord encourage their natural parts with 
hopes of a new and strange discovery, expecting every hour 
to see some rare sight never seen before, they were not able 
to hold out and break through. '•' '•' '•' After some days spent 
in search, toiling in the day-time, as formerly said, like true 
Jacob they rest them on the rocks where the night takes 
them. Their short repast is some small pittance of bread, 
if it holds out ; but as for drink they have plenty, the 
country being well watered in all places that are yet found 
out. Their further hardship is to travel, sometimes they 
know not whither, bewildered indeed without sight of sun, 
their compass miscarrying in crowding through the bushes. 
They sadly search up and down for a known way, the In- 
dian paths being not above one foot broad, so that a man 
may travel many days and never find one. "*' *' '•' This in- 
tricate work no whit daunted these resolved servants of 
Christ to go on with the work in hand, but lying in the 
open air while the watery clouds pour down all the night 
season, and sometimes the driving snow desolving on their 
backs, they keep their wet clothes warm with continued 
fire till the renewed morning gives fresh opportunity of 
further travel." 

So far you see it is but a continuance of the story of 
Simon Willard's party which is in search of Musketequid. 
The next line goes on to say that after they had "found 
out a place for abode," they built their houses under the 
hill, etc. You can see that Mr. Johnson's story of itself, 
if read carefully, confutes the idea that he had any refer- 
ence to our sixty-three men, women and children that we 
are talking about. Whether the faintness caused by the 
heat of the summer sun on the svv^eet fern, and the chill ex- 
perienced from the melting of the snow upon their backs 
in the night season, were veritable incidents of the expedi- 



of Musketequid 



tion, or whether they are merely graphic touches, put in 
for pictorial eftect, we can only conjecture. If they are to 
be accepted as part of the true history of the exploring 
party, it must be concluded that the party was in the field 
for many weeks, if not months. 

I have been thus particular in giving the names, ages 
etc., of these people, that I may the more forcibly impress 
upon you the difficulty of the task that these nineteen 
young men had before them in moving from Cambridge or 
Watertown out here. Sixty-three (more or less) persons, 
with at least six months' provisions, and all the furniture, 
bedding, clothing etc., absolutely necessary to begin house- 
keeping with and to carry them through the winter, which 
was just setting in, were confronted, that October morning, 
with the task of moving all this into an unbroken wilder- 
ness. These men afterward proved themselves to be of 
more than ordinary intelligence, sagacity and courage. 
Let me ask you — descendants of these men — did they 
with their families start at once to walk hither, with no 
path to follow, no guide but the compass, no clothing but 
what they had upon their backs, no food but what they 
could carry in their hands ; traveling through swamps over 
fallen trees, or through water up to their knees, over 
scorching plains, and through brambles that scratch the 
clothing from their limbs, and the flesh perhaps with it ; 
lying in the open air with the rain pouring down upon 
them ; and all this for many days ere they reach their desti- 
nation ; and when there, with nothing to protect them from 
the cold October weather until they could build their 
cabins under the hill? Can you imagine a worse condition 
than all this would bring upon them ? Take the family of 
the Rev. Mr. Jones, brought up in comfort in their old 



The Plantation 



home, weakened by a long sea voyage, Mrs. Jones with an 
infant six months old, and five other children, three of 
them too young to walk over the rough ground ; entirely 
unused to the hardships of a pioneer life ; and imagine, if 
you can, what their condition would necessarily have been 
at the end of a week of such privation and exposure. 

No long argument is needed, to convince you that such 
a journey was not undertaken ; but that the helpless ones re- 
mained at Cambridge or Watertown, while the stronger 
went forward to build a road for them, and to erect their 
simple huts under the hill, and when all this was done, 
the principal part of the colony, by means of the teams 
which we have seen the General Court helped them to, 
moved out to Concord like sensible men and women. 

This question being settled in our minds, the next one 
that appears to present itself is — where was the first road 
to Concord located ? I have spent a good deal of time in 
looking up old records etc., in regard to this matter, and 
here follow the results of my investigations. 

The primeval forests of 1635 were not much like the 
forests of to-day. The trees were large and wide-spread- 
ing, and consequently far apart. There was no under- 
brush and but few small trees. An ox-cart could probably 
have been driven for miles over the cleared corn-fields of 
the Indians, or through the forests, winding between the 
trees with little obstruction, except perhaps an occasional 
fallen tree, or a hanging limb that could be easily removed. 
This was true of the dry plain land. But in the swamps 
and along the streams it vv'as different. The cedar and 
spruce swamps were mazes of indestructible trees of those 
varieties, from the green and standing trees of the day, to 
the fallen veterans of all the years numbering backward for 



of Mnsketequid t 9 



centuries, piled one upon another in inextricable con- 
fusion. These swamps were the haunts of bears and 
wolves, and continued to be so for a long time after the 
country was settled, and they were alm.ost impassible with 
teams or even on foot. Of course no attempt was made 
ro construct a road through or across such places. Streams 
of any size also had to be avoided, as our road-makers 
could not spend much time to build bridges, and these 
streams, moreover, were in most places bordered by soft 
meadows that could not be crossed any more than the 
swamps. If they were bordered by hard land, then the 
trees were covered with grape-vines and brambles that 
made them difficult of access, or the hill sides were steep 
or stony, and so had to be avoided. 

Now, if a line could be found where all these disagree- 
able things could be kept clear of, then a road could be 
built at little expense and in a short time. And is it not 
certain that a line approximating this was found, when we 
consider that some fourteen miles was, without doubt, built 
in about a month? The location and building of this road 
must have been the first step toward moving here. 

Streams are the natural guides to travelers into an un- 
known wilderness. Did our settlers follow up Charles 
River and Stony Brook, and then upon one side or the 
other of Walden Pond find their way hither ? A strong 
argument could be made against the possibility of building 
a road upon this line in so short a time, but it is not neces- 
sary, as the records come to our aid. The records of 
Watertown show us that the first road built westerly from 
that place was what is now Main Street in Waltham, and 
that it was built several years later than 1635 ^Y Water- 
town. Another possible route that has been mentioned is 



20 'T^he Plantation 

the old road through the northerly part of Waltham to 
Lincoln, (anciently called Trapelo Road, now North 
Street, ) and so on by the present road to Concord. There 
are many natural objections to this route. It crosses two 
considerable streams. The first is Beaver Brook, which 
at that time must have been much more of a stream than it 
is now, for in the year 1663 a fulling mill was built on it. 
The second is Hobbs's Brook ; this had for a long time a 
mill upon it, and must in 1635 have been crossed only with 
great difficulty. Even after crossing it, there were swamps 
and much exceedingly rough ground to contend with before 
the site of Concord could be reached. But there is a still 
stronger argument against this route. The records of 
Watertown tell us that on March 24, 1641, a road was or- 
dered by the town to be built to accommodate the farmers 
who were rapidly taking up the land in what is now the 
northerly part of Waltham and the southerly part of Lin- 
coln, and was then known as "the Great Dividends". 
This road is nearly identical with the present North Street, 
and was then named "Trapelo Road". As this road was 
not constructed until 1641, it is evident that it can not be 
the one we are seeking, built by our Concord folk in 1635. 
A third possible way is : — starting from Watertown, 
and going northerly through what is now Waverley, almost 
to East Lexington; then bearing off to the left, and passing 
through the entire length of Lexington, by what is now 
called Middle Street, to the Lincoln line ; then turning a 
little to the right, so as to avoid Hobbs's Brook, upon a 
road which tradition declares to be very old, and crossing 
the present Lexington Road, coming by the Virginia Road 
to Concord. I think I can show that this was the route 
!aid out and built in the autumn of 1635. And first, let 



of Musketequid 21 



us look at its natural advantages, as presented at that time 
to our anxious road-makers. We have recognized the 
necessity of avoiding swamps and streams. This route 
does not cross a stream in its whole distance. Going 
directly back from the Charles River, it strikes the ridge 
that divides the basins of the Charles, and its tributaries 
Stony Brook and Hobbs's Brook, from the branches of 
the Shawshine, and keeps upon this ridge all the way to 
Virginia Road, without once striking a swamp or low 
ground of any kind. Another fact is, that at no point be- 
tween the Trapelo Road, before mentioned, and this line, 
could a road have been laid out without crossing large 
swamps and steep hills, neither could a road have been laid 
out much firther north without meeting the same kind of 
obstructions. 

But setting aside for the present all these natural advan- 
tages, let us see what the record shows us. Upon the 
Town records of Watertown, under date of December 
1638, is found the following, — "Voted that the highway 
leading to Concord shall be six rods wide," Bond says in 
his History of Watertown^ that the road now called Lex- 
ington Street, beginning at Belmont Street and extending 
north, by Elbow Hill, was anciently called Concord Road, 
This is the street that goes through Waverley on to East 
Lexington, You will notice that this order was not for the 
laying out of a road ; neither was it for the building of one, 
but simply the granting of land for one that was already 
built and named. This order was voted a little more than 
three years after Concord was incorporated. Now, who 
laid out and built this road .^ Watertown had no interest in 
constructing it, for she owned no land in that direction. 
We know that our Concord settlers had made a road three 



11 The Plantation 

years before this, from Watertown to Concord, for we have 
record that they drove their teams over it, and it is not at 
all likely that two separate roads between these two settle- 
ments were made in the same three years. I think that this 
vote of the Watertown people settles the question of the 
first road to Concord as far as the ancient bounds of the 
former, and carries us well out into what was then Newton, 
afterward Cambridge Farms, and now Lexington. 

Upon the records of the Quarter Court under date of 
June 4, 1639, is the following. (It must be remembered 
that the year before this date the name of the ancient town 
of Newtowne was changed to Cambridge, and that Cam- 
bridge extended as far northwest as to the present Bedford 
line, and included all of what is now Lexington, and a part 
of Lincoln.) The record reads : — "Cambridge was en- 
joined to repair her ways at Long Swamp and Vine Brook 
leading to Concord, upon pain of five pounds." On De- 
cember 3, of the same year: — "Cambridge for defect of 
ways at Vine Brook and Long Swamp are refered to the 
former fine of five pounds." And on December i, 
1 640 : — "the town of Cambridge upon proof that the ways 
at Vine Brook and Long Swamp are repaired was discharged 
of the fine of five pounds." This proves that four years 
after the first road was needed, a road to Concord, and so 
named, had been built by somebody, and had been used 
long enough to need repairs, and that the Court had been 
appealed to, to oblige Cambridge to repair it. Up to this 
time nobody had needed this road but the Concord people, 
and it must have been built for their accommodation origin- 
ally. Surely there could not have been two roads, and 
there is no room to doubt that this road, repaired by Cam- 



of Mnsketequid 



bridge, in accordance with the Court's order in 1639, is the 
one that was laid out and made by our Concord settlers. 

Let us see where this road runs. If you will consult 
rhc map of Lexington, you will find soon after you enter 
upon the Watertown road, a large swamp or meadow, upon 
the east of Last Lexington; this was the Long Swamp 
spoken of The next point is Vine Brook. This, you 
will see, is a branch of the Shawshine, rising from two dif- 
ferent sources in the southerly part of Lexington and 
running northerly through the town. The records I have 
quoted show that our road must have run near some part 
of it. Any one familiar with the topography of Lexington 
will know that it could not have crossed the stream in any 
place in the northerly part of that town, and common sense 
shows us that having arrived at the high land between the 
Charles and the Shawshine, our road-makers would strike 
as near a straight line as they could ; but we need none of 
these arguments, as the records again come to our aid. 
Mr. Charles Hudson says, in his History of Lexington^ that 
the first farms, called "Cambridge Farms," were taken up 
in the southerly part of the town, all that section of coun- 
try having been cleared by the Indians or by fires. The 
recorded description of several of these farms bound them 
upon Vine Brook and upon the Concord Road, and we are 
able to locate some of them on or near the present Middle 
Street, and at what is now called Grape Vine Corner, and 
near the source of Vine Brook, so that there is no doubt 
that this was the road repaired by Cambridge in 1639, at 
just the site of the Lexington reservoir of today. From 
this point, until the Bay Road was built, which was a good 
while after the Town was settled, there was no way to get 
to Concord except by the Virginia Road. It only needs 



24 '^he Plantation 

to ride over the road to show that starting from Middle 
Street, a road could not have been made in any other 
place without great difficulty. 

As to the distance by this route, it is to be remembered 
that Concord was not built ; these settlers were not steering 
for the exact site of the present centre of Concord, but for 
the great meadows upon Mill Brook, and for the cleared 
corn-fields between here and Bedford. These were what 
Simon Willard and his party had seen when they first came 
hither and discovered the fitness of the place for a planta- 
tion, and this road is the shortest one to-day from Water- 
town to these lands. The location of the houses "under 
the hill" was probably not decided upon until after the pi- 
oneers arrived here, and found out for themselves that the 
southerly side of the ridge offered them more advantages of 
shelter from the north and east winds. So the "house lots" 
of a few acres each were allotted there, (as was required by 
law) within half a mile of the meeting-house, while the 
"farms" were laid out further away. All these facts and 
records, therefore, have convinced me that the first road to 
Concord was over Middle Street in Lexington and our own 
Virginia Road, which latter is thus our oldest highway. 

Several pages back we left sixty-three men women and 
children upon that October morning, all ready to go for- 
ward and take possession of the land the General Court 
had granted them. I said that history gave us no story of 
how these people came here to Concord. But it seems to 
me that between the lines of History we can now, if we try 
plainly read the story. We can see our first surveying 
party laying out, by marked trees, the route to be followed; 
then men with axes and shovels following, not long behind 
them, to smoothe the way and prepare it for the teams that 



of Musketequid 15 



the magistrates had authority to "press" for them. We can 
see them building their rude huts under the sheltering hill- 
side, and we may well believe that with every log raised to 
build these poor homes, there went up a hope and a prayer 
that they would soon be able to provide better ones. 
And when all this work is finished, we can see them, with 
their wives and children, moving in and taking possession 
of the land and the homes they have come so far and suf- 
fered so much to obtain. 

I think if we look with care we can also read many 
touching stories of courage and forethought of these men 
who thus took their lives and the Hves of all that were dear 
to them, in their hands, braving sea and wilderness to come 
here and establish these homes. And plainer than all can 
we read wonderful stories of the courage and devotion and 
love that led these wives and mothers, leaving behind, per- 
haps, their own fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters ; 
leaving all the old associations of their childhood and 
youth, and all the places made dear to them by these asso- 
ciations ; leaving all that had gone to make up their lives 
and happiness heretofore, to come hither with their hus- 
bands to an untried life In a new country. I think all 
these stories can be seen, if we look for them. 

Broadening our view a little, to include the settlers of all 
New England, I think we can see that the fact of their 
coming here, and the knowledge of why they came, prove 
to us that they were a Natural Selection of the best and 
the bravest of the stock of Old England, and that with 
them, (the mothers even more than the fathers, for we all 
concede that the best in us comes from our mothers,) there 
came an element of self-reliance, an English grit, and with 
it a love of freedom and justice and honor, that has spread, 



26 The Plantation of Musketequid 

as they have spread, and that is seen and felt to-day from 
Plymouth Rock to the Golden Gate. 

One picture more, and we will leave them for the present. 
I think we can imagine them well sheltered under the 
sunny side of the hill ; with at least warm houses, with 
ample fire-places, and with a twenty-six thousand acre 
wood-lot to supply the fuel for them ; and believing, as be- 
ing Englishmen they must believe, that to possess much 
land meant wealth and honor in the future ; with provisions 
in store for the winter ; with a chance to hunt all sorts of 
game in their very door-yards, and with the best of fishing 
in their back lots ; with a strong faith in the Divine Pro- 
tection, and an especially strong faith in themselves. And 
thus seeing them with our mind's eye, I think we can be 
sure that they were neither uncomfortable nor unhappy 
during their first winter at the Plantation at Musketequid. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Heywood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 

Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

Telephone Connection. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor. 
Concord, Mass. 

Off Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1 747- 1 776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards. 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Battle, April 19, 177S. 

OLO NORTH BRIDGE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages with competent guides to 

meet all cars on Monument Square, 

the centre of all points of historic 

interest: 

Carriages may be ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
lecting antiques with a local history, I 
have instructed the guides the associa- 
tion of the points of interest, w iiich 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, riass. 

J. W. CULL, HanajL-jr. 



MGMflNUS BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 



Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, «s Mass. 

Ofpsite Fitchbur g Depot 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES. 

SPORTING GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

RENTING, REPAIRING 

AND TEACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
your Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

SHOP, MONUMBNT ST., Telephone H-5 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telephone 28-4 



At 



MISS BUCK'S 



MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



Pictures of Concord's Pbces 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 
Thoreau Penholders, i 5c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 
Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau Sc Son. 
For sale by 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 

Buii.T IN 1747 



The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 
Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLE HON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. ovv. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE, 

I'Fatchtnaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



At . . . *■ 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 

may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 
GUIDE BOOKS 

and books by 

CONCORD AUTHORS. '| 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 
Druggist. 



Huyler's Candies 
Souvenir Postal Cards 
Photographs, etc. 



Concord, 



Mass. 



The Colonial, | 

|i 

Monument Square, jl 

Concord, Massachusetts. 

WILLIAM E. RAND, 

Proprietor. 



TWO BOOKS by -nargaret Sidney/* 

Old Concord: Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, $2.00. 

"One of the choicest souvenirs of the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

" It is written in a stvle as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's 'Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 

Little Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
Frank T. Merrill. ^1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famousNorth Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 
such a story as young people like; as the founder of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

are from 

^be patriot press 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

The Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
The Erudite (momhiy) 
Concordy A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 



^be ITown of (roncor^ 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
AND DEATHS 

from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for $5 each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



EVENTS OF 
APRIL NINETEENTH 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN. 




"A truly great historical novel." — Omaha World-Herald. 

THE COLONIALS 

By ALLETN FUENCH 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has w^ritten a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few weeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle says : 
" It is seldom that we are favored with so strong, so symmet- 
rical, so virile a work ... a work of romantic fiction of 
an order of merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 

Price With Colonial Decorations $1.50 

The Furniture of Our Forefathers 

By ESTHER. SIISTGH^ETON 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which arc in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net. Write for prospectus. 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, N.Y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

House on Lexington Road 



I 



Containing a large collection of 

LOCAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIOHARY RELICS, CHIII 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 

is open every afternoon from May i to November 
at which times the Secretary will be 
in attendance 

Admission 25 Cents 




At . . . 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 

may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 
GUIDE BOOKS 

and books by 

CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 




Druggist. 


The Colonial, 




Monument Square, 


Huyler's Candies 


Concord, Massachusetts. 


Souvenir Postal Cards 






WILLIAM E. RAND, 


Photographs, etc. 


Proprietor. 


Concord, - Mass. 





Battle, April 19, 1775. 

OLD NORTH BBfOQE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages wiih comptvtnt guides to 
meet all cars on Monument Square, 
the centre ol all points of historic 
interest: 

Carriages may ne ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
lecting antiques v. itii a local history, I 
have instructed the guides the associa- 
tion of the points ot" interest, which 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and AiiJique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, flass. 

J. W. CULL, Hunager. 



MGMANU8 BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 

Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, - Mass. 

Opposite Fitchburg Depot 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BiOYCLES 

SPOBTiNG GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

RLNTINQ, REPAIRINCi 

AND TEACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
vour Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keycs will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring vour house. 

SHOP. AlONUMKNT ST., Telephone 14=5 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CO^'C0RD, MASS. Telephone 28=4 



At 



MiSS BUCK'S 



MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



EVENTS OF 
APRIL NINETEENTH 



READ BEFORii J HE 



CONCORD ANIIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN 



Publr hed by the Concord Antiquarian Society 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, 1886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 



THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . President. 

SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. . . • \v p ■ 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD j Presidents. 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS, CONCORD. 



* 




Events of April Nineteenth 



IT has been well said that "Patriotic memories are the 
strength of a nation," — and certainly to a son of Massa- 
chusetts there is no day of all the three hundred and sixty- 
five, that is so full of patriotic associations as is the day 
that the old Commonwealth has but lately recognized as 
being worthy of special commemoration, — the 19th day of 
April. It seems almost as if Providence had set aside this 
date to mark the three great crises of liberty and free gov- 
ernment, which we have been called upon to meet. It is 
surely a remarkable coincidence that all three of these crises 
should have come upon that particular day, and perhaps 
still more remarkable that the interval between the first and 
the second should have been exactly equalled by the inter- 
val between the second and the third. It was on the 19th 
of April 1689 that the people of Massachusetts, exasper- 
ated beyond measure by the petty exactions and more seri- 
ous usurpations of Sir Edmund Andros, the royal Gov- 
ernor, drove him from his chair of office, and forced him to 
abdicate. This was "the first forcible resistance to British 
aggression," for it assumed the proportions of war, and the 
militia of Boston and the surrounding towns were in arms 
to enforce the will of the rebellious people if a resort to 
arms became necessary. In this movement old Concord 
bore her part, for before sunrise on that day her militia 
company under command of Lieutenant John Heald gath- 



4 Events of 

ered on the green in front of the old meeting house, and took 
up their march to Boston, where they arrived before noon. 

Eighty-six years thereafter, to a day, to an hour, the 
militia and minute men of Concord again gathered on the 
same spot to hear the tidings of the advance of a strong 
force of British soldiers that was directed against them, and 
against them alone. Upon their courage and decision hung 
the issue of a rebellion and a war the end of which no one 
could foresee, and the consequences of which to the liberty 
and progress of the whole world, not even the most san- 
guine could imagine. That decision was final and unhesi- 
tating, and like good soldiers and earnest patriots, they pro- 
ceeded at once to put themselves in a defensible position 
and calmly to await the shock of battle that a few hours 
later was to transform them from British subjects to Amer- 
ican sovereigns. Even while they stood there upon the 
green, their neighbors at Lexington were fired upon, and 
many of them were killed, by the invading column, the 
first martyrs to the cause of American freedom, but Con- 
cord knew that it was upon her own soil that the battle was 
to begin, that it was here that America should begin to 
advance. 

Eighty-six years again to a day, and on the 19th of April 
1 86 1, the militia company of Concord, under command of 
Lieutenant George L. Prescott, and then attached to the 
5th Regiment M. V. M., hastily summoned by orders 
from the Governor, at midnight of the i8th, gathered on 
the same ground, twice hallowed by the footsteps of their 
patriotic ancestors, and from that spot began their march to 
the relief of the national seat of government, then threatened 
not with foreign invasion, but with the reckless violence of 
a domestic foe. And even while they stood there upon the 



April Nineteenth 



green, their neighbors of Lowell, belonging to the 5th 
regiment, were fired upon by rebels in the streets of Balti- 
more, and two of them were killed, the first northern sol- 
diers to fall in defence of the cause of American unity. 

So the 19th of Ajiril is peculiarly a Massachusetts day. 
In the great rebellion the honors and dangers of every day 
after the 19th of April 1861, were shared by other States; 
in the American revolution, even in the siege of Boston and 
in the battle of Bunker Hill, soldiers from her sister States 
stood shoulder to shoulder with her own, and shared her 
glory; but the honors of the 19th o\ April belong to 
Massachusetts, and to her alone. It was she alone who 
withstood the galling tyranny of a royal governor on April 
19, 1689 ; they were her sons who were the first to fill in 
the great struggle for American liberty on April 19, 1775 ' 
they were her sons who first gave up their lives in the still 
more momentous contest for American unity on April 19, 
1 86 1. Eighty-six years again, — one could almost believe 
that it is the decree of Fate that on April 19, 1947, some 
momentous crisis shall again come in the affairs of our 
country, some great danger shall again call her citizens to 
arms. Not many of us can ever know, but I think we can 
be sure that whether it come or not, the grand old Com- 
monwealth will be found ready, as she has been before, to 
march in the front rank in war, or to point out the way in 
peace. 

I do not flatter myself with the notion that I can shed 
any new light on the events of the 19th of April 1775, nor 
that I have any new facts to disclose or novel considerations 
to urge as to the respective shares of the glory that belong 
to the different towns that participated in those events. 
This last question has unhappily been the occasion of much 



6 Events cf 

acrimonious controversy. To my mind such controversy 
is trivial and unreasonable. The glory of the day belongs, 
not to Concord, nor to Lexington, nor to Acton exclu- 
sively, not even to them collectively ; it belongs to Massa- 
chusetts, and in a larger way to New England, and to all 
the Colonies of the Old Thirteen. All were ready, all 
knew that war was coming, and the moment the alarm was 
given that hostilities had actually begun, all sprung to arms 
at once. The shot fired at Concord was indeed "heard 
round the world." The day was yet young, when all the 
Province was in arms, and on the march. None faltered, 
none hung back. Before the unlucky column of British 
soldiery could again gain the shelter of their ships at Bos- 
ton, all Middlesex and Essex were at their heels ; soldiers 
from Worcester and Berkshire were on their way ; New 
Hampshire's yeomen and Rhode Island's mechanics were 
hurrying toward Boston. The echo of the first musket- 
shot at Lexington had not died away when Israel Putnam 
in Connecticut left his plough in the furrow, and convert- 
ing his plough horse into a battle charger was spurring his 
way hitherward. Virginia and the Carolinas started as soon 
as the news could reach them. The spirit of liberty was 
everywhere alive, and would have been equally so had the 
first blow been struck anywhere else than in Concord. 

It was however almost inevitable that the first blow 
should have been struck here. The Provincial Congress, 
in February, had voted that provisions and military stores 
and equipments sufficient for an army of fifteen thousand 
men should be collected and deposited at Concord and 
Worcester, then the two most important inland towns in 
the Province. But few of these supplies were stored at the 
latter place, but a large amount was already accumulated at 



April Nineteenth 



Concord, and more was constantly being added. Cartridges, 
cartridge-boxes and arms were being made there; the mill 
in the centre of the town was running night and day grind- 
ing the grain that was pouring in from all parts of the 
country round ; almost every house was a storehouse of 
provisions and military stores, and the town was the head- 
quarters ot all sorts of committees and agencies for the 
furtherance of the designs of the patriots. It was the prin- 
cipal and practically the only depot of commissary and sub- 
sistence stores. The place was well chosen for that purpose. 
The royal forces were practically shut up in Boston less 
than twenty miles away, and between the two places was a 
thickly settled and intensely patriotic bit of country, 
through which, as the event proved, no body of troops, 
however strong or however secretly despatched, could force 
its way without the patriots being given a good opportunity 
to assemble for the defence. 

One thing was evident to everyone, — that when Gen- 
eral Gage should conclude to act, as he must eventually do, 
he would strike at Coucord, the vital spot of the whole im- 
pending rebellion, the only place where he could do the 
patriotic cause any material damage. Concord's glory in 
the affair is not that the fight took place within her borders, 
nor that it was there that the war of independence actually 
began ; it is that, months before, she willingly and enthusi- 
astically accepted the responsibility of offering her soil as 
the stage upon which the first act of the bloody drama of 
war must inevitably be enacted. 

While all this collecting of war material and supplies was 
going on, the personnel of the prospective army was care- 
fully looked after. The regular militia was exercised and 
instructed as carefully and as frequently as possible and 



8 Events of 

fines were rigorously exacted for absence from drill and in- 
attention to duty. There was no lack of old soldiers in the 
community, for the French war was not long past, and its 
veterans were to be found in every village, men who had 
faced the soldiers of France in the open field, and who had 
hunted down her murderous Indian allies in the dark 
forests. These men had met danger and knew what fight- 
ing meant, though not what would have been considered 
trained soldiers in any of the armies of Europe. The nic- 
eties of military drill and the strict punctilio of martial 
courtesy were unknown to them ; they had never had to use 
these things, but they had learned the value of organization, 
to a certain extent, and the necessity of obedience to 
orders, — only they recognized that in the kind of warfare 
to which they had been accustomed, and in the opening 
scenes of the struggle that was to come, there might be 
such a thing as too much organization and too many orders. 
So their drill was more elastic and less irksome to the 
younger soldiers, than that of European armies. The 
New England people were a fighting people ; they had 
been for nearly a hundred and fifty years, ever since the 
first settlement of the Colony, almost constantly engaged in 
war with Indians or French, and their fighting had been 
done, not as in the older countries, by a class of men set 
aside and paid for that duty, but by the people themselves, 
the farmers and artisans, who, when need required, aban- 
doned plough or work bench and became soldiers for the 
nonce, and until the emergency was over. It was this lack 
of appearance of organization that led General Gage to 
think that the Yankees would not fight. Brought up 
under the conditions of European warfare, he did not see 
how it was possible for them to fight without an army, and 



April Nineteenth 



no army was visible. The Yankees might collect stores 
and munitions and all that sort of thing for an army of 
fifteen thousand men, and welcome ; after they had got all 
these things collected, and while the army was still non- 
existent, he would close his hand upon them and put a stop 
to the whole business. He tried the experiment, and 
tound to his surprise that the whole country was an army, 
and that within a few hours of his first attack upon it, he 
was securely bottled up in Boston along with his ten thou- 
sand disciplined troops, by soldiers who seemed to have 
dropped from the clouds or sprung up from the earth to 
confront him. 

On Tuesday the iid of March, the Provincial Congress 
assembled at Concord, and remained in session until Sat- 
urday the 15th of April. It was evident to the Congress 
that General Gage would soon move to seize upon or to 
destroy their stores here, and that Concord Fight might be 
looked for in a few days, or weeks at most. They knew it 
was coming, and that it would come right here. Bradford 
says: — '*It was the great object of the Congress at this 
meeting to support the Committee of Safety in the meas- 
ures they had adopted, and to urge the people to prepare 
for a firm and united resistance should the crisis require it." 
They particularly urged upon the militia the necessity of 
discipline, and ordered several companies of artillery to be 
immediately organized. "On the 8th of April it was 
voted to raise an army with all possible despatch for the 
defence of the Province against any attack which should be 
made by the British troops, which had a short time before 
been much increased." 

Now, plainly, was Gage's time to act. He had the full 
plans and maps of the country for which he had been wait- 



lo Events of 

ing, all prepared by this time ; he knew all he could hope 
to know of the amount of stores then in stock, the places 
where they were deposited, and the means by which they 
could most easily be destroyed ; and more important yet, he 
knew that the scattered mob of militia and minutemen were 
now to be organized into an army, and that necessarily the 
headquarters and principal post of this army would be at 
Concord where the commissary department was. Concord 
Fight must take place in time to forestall this movement ; 
the conspiracy must be checked before it had opportunity 
to come to a head ; the rebel army must be strangled at its 
very birth. 

Accordingly, on the very day that the Congress closed 
its session at Concord, the Commander of the British 
forces at Boston detailed about 800 to 1000 of the troops, 
giving out that this detachment was to be instructed in some 
new exercises, a very shallow pretence that deceived no- 
body. There were then in Boston ten regiments of infan- 
try, the 4th, 5th, loth, 23d, 29th, 38th, 43d, 47th, 57th, 
and 59th, and a battalion of six hundred marines, and the 
detachment consisted of the grenadiers and light infantry 
companies, the right and left flank companies respectively, 
of each of these regiments, and two companies of the ma- 
rines. The loth Regiment had been longest in New Eng- 
land, having been sent hither in the summer of 1768, seven 
years before, and as a matter of courtesy and military right, 
its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith, was 
given the command of this the first important military ex- 
pedition, and the grenadier company, the 6th, of the loth 
Regiment had the place of honor at the head of the first 
British column that advanced with hostile intent against the 
rebels of New England. Of course the manoeuvres of 



April Nineteenth 



this new detachment were closely observed by the Sons of 
Liberty at Boston, and as Paul Revere says in his own 
narrative of his famous ride : — 

"On the Saturday night preceding the 19th of April (the 
night of the 15th) about twelve o'clock at night, the boats 
belonging to the transports were all launched and carried 
under the sterns of the men-of-war. They had been pre- 
viously hauled up and repaired. . . . On Tuesday even- 
ing the 1 8th, it was observed that a number of soldiers were 
marching towards the bottom of the common. About ten 
o'clock Dr. Warren sent for me, and begged that I would 
set out at once for Lexington, where Messrs. Hancock and 
Adams were, and acquaint them of the movement and that 
it was thought they were the objects of it." 

There were two roads to Lexington and Concord, 
the one most travelled by the country folk leading 
out over Boston neck, through Roxbury, Brookline, 
Watertown and Waltham, — the other through Charles- 
town or Cambridge, Menotomy (now Arlington), to Lex- 
ington, which required ferriage across Charles River, 
for there was then no bridge. William Dawes had 
already been sent out over the former route and Revere 
was to take the other, but it was important that he should 
know which road the soldiers were to take, so he made ar- 
rangements to wait on the further bank of the river until 
he should receive notice by a signal light from the tower of 
the old North church; one light if the soldiers took the 
route over the neck, and two if they crossed the river. 
This signal was not to determine his route^ but merely that 
he might be able to inform the waiting and expectant pat- 
riots of Middlesex county, as far as possible, of the opera- 
tions of the enemy. But before he started from Charles- 
town, he learned from Adjutant Devens that the move- 



12 Events of 

ment of the enemy had a larger object than merely to cap- 
ture the two revolutionary leaders ; that the force that was 
being despatched was larger than could be needed for such 
a purpose, and that a little earlier in the evening, a woman 
with whom some of the Forty-third Regiment were 
quartered had unguardedly mentioned that some of the 
troops were off for Concord that night. Revere was at the 
same time notified by Devens that since sundown, he 
(Devens) had come down from Lexington and had met ten 
British officers all well armed and mounted, going up the 
road. Thus forewarned that the road had been picketed 
in advance. Revere rode off quietly on his dangerous mis- 
sion. He met the first picket up on Charlestown neck and 
came quite near being captured, but he put his horse to the 
gallop, and changing his route a little turned off to Med- 
ford, and escaped them, one of his pursuers falling into a 
clay pond. "At Medford," he says, "1 aroused the cap- 
tain of the minute men, and after that I alarmed almost 
every house till I got to Lexington." That was Paul 
Revere's famous ride. The popular idea appears to be that 
Paul Revere started from Charlestown and rode up through 
Medford and Lexington to Concord, yelling all the way 
like a Dago fruit peddler, to wake up the people along the 
road. Paul Revere was not an ass, to go braying about 
under people's windows on a road which he knew was pick- 
eted by watchful enemies who were posted for the purpose 
of intercepting him, nor did he blow any bugle blasts nor 
do any other stupid thing that would be sure to defeat the 
very object he was riding for. He wasn't doing a theatrical 
act ; he was out for business, and his own modest story 
shows that he performed his dangerous errand with caution 
and silence. At Lexington he met Dawes, who arrived 



April NinetecnlJi 13 



hut a few minutes behind him, and after a short consultation 
with Adams anci Hancock, started for Concord, being 
joined by Dr. Samuel Prescott of Concord who was on his 
way home. Three miles from Lexington, just halfway to 
Concord, they were intercepted by a British picket, who 
captured Revere while Dawes and Prescott were just oft 
the road arousing the people at a house. The two latter, 
coming to the assistance of their companion were also cap- 
tured, but Prescott, knowing the country very thoroughly, 
made his escape by a by-road to Lincoln, where he aroused 
Captain Smith of the minute men of that town, and then 
pushed on to Concord. Revere also made a temporary es- 
cape from his captors, but had the misfortune to run against 
another guard of six mounted officers, who took him pris- 
oner again. 'I'hey threatened him with death if he should 
make any artempt to escape, took away his horse, which, 
by the way, was a borrowed one, and conducted him back 
to Lexington. The main column of the regulars had not yet 
come up to Lexington, but her minute men had assembled 
and as the guard and their prisoner neared the village they 
heard the firing of musketry, which, says Revere, "appeared 
to alarm them very much." This firing was probably the 
signaling of the patriots, but the officers knew it meant 
business, and having got from Revere all he cared to tell 
them, — among other things that the whole country be- 
tween them and Boston on the one side and Concord on 
the other was aroused and in arms, — they released him 
and he made haste to rejoin Hancock and Adams at the 
Rev. Mr. Clark's. He accompanied them to Woburn, 
and then returned again to Lexington, which he reached, 
for the third time that night and morning before Colonel 
Smith and his force came in sight. 



1 4 Events of 

The contemporary accounts of the events of the day are 
principally the official report of General Gage ; the narrative 
prepared by a committee of the Provincial Congress within 
a few days after the fight, and containing the depositions of 
citizens of Concord and Lexington, which may also be 
considered as official ; a manuscript narrative of the Rev. 
William Emerson, who was out under arms early in the 
day, and who witnessed the action at the North Bridge in 
Concord ; a brief narrative of the principal transactions of 
that day, which was appended to a sermon preached a year 
later by the Rev. Jonas Clark, minister of Lexington ; 
the diary of Amos Barrett, a Concord minuteman ; and 
the diary of an officer of the 4th or King's Own Regiment, 
who participated in the expedition. These, with the 
letter of Paul Revere from which I have quoted are the 
testimony of eye witnesses or participants. The account 
given by the Rev. William Gordon of Roxbury in a letter 
dated May 17, 1775, to a friend in England; the accounts 
printed in the Essex Gazette of the 21st and 25th of April 
and the 5th of May, the account printed in the Massachu- 
setts Spy of May 3 ; and the so-called Coffin Handbill printed 
at Salem in 1775, and containing a list of the Americans 
killed and wounded, are the best of the testimony 
of the second rank. A committee of the Provincial 
Congress also made a report on the damages done by 
the King s troops on their line of march. Then there are 
very many private letters and diaries of the time, that have, 
from time to time since, been discovered, and printed more 
or less obscurely, brief accounts in some of the almanacs 
for the year 1776, and letters and statements in the foreign 
newspapers of the time. These accounts do not entirely 
agree, and it is difficult to reconcile them in some particulars. 



April Nineteenth • 1 5 



The only thing that can be done is to get a general average 
as to the broader aspects of the affair. Any of you who 
has read at all extensively in the history of the civil war of 
a generation ago will recognize how entirely impossible it 
is to find two historians who can tell the same story in the 
same way, or who can agree in every statement of fact, and 
even the official accounts, reports made to the war depart- 
ments of the respective combatants, always differ from 
each other, toto ca:lo. For instance, did any one ever hear 
of an official account of a fight in which, whichever side 
tells the story, the cneniy did not greatly outnumber the 
side that tells it ? 

Let us try to get as near the average as we can. The 
diary of the Captain in the 4th Regiment, agrees perfectly 
with General Gage's account and Paul Revere's, with re- 
gard to the setting out of the expedition, but supplies some 
little incidents that General Gage could not well insert, and 
that Revere could not have known. Under date of April 
1 6, he writes : — 

"Last night between ten and eleven o'clock all the 
grenadiers and light infantry of the army, making about 
600 men, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Smith of 
the loth, and the marines under Major Pitcairn, embarked 
and were landed on the opposite shore on Cambridge 
marsh. Few except the commanding officers knew what 
expedition we were going upon. After getting over the 
marsh where we were wet up to the knees, we were halted 
in a dirty road, and stood there till 2 o'clock in the morn- 
ing, waiting for provisions to be brought from the boats 
and to be divided, and which most of the men threw away, 
having brought some with them ; and at two o'clock we be- 
gan our march, wading through a long ford up to our mid- 
dles." 



1 6 Events of 

Each man, it may be said here, had thirty six rounds of 
ammunition ; they carried muskets longer than themselves ; 
they were in full uniform, and the uniform of those days 
was apparently designed to hinder freedom of action and 
ease of motion ; the grenadier companies wore a heavy 
sabre in addition to their musket. Thus burdened, wet up 
to the middle, and weary with standing three hours in the 
mud of East Cambridge, which I think you will agree with 
me is the nastiest mud on the surface of this planet, they 
were at the very outset heavily handicapped for a march of 
eighteen miles into a hostile country, a day's labor in the 
destruction of the enemy's stores and munitions, and a re- 
treat over the same eighteen miles of road, all of which 
they were to accomplish before they could get any rest. 
This, for soldiers who had not been used to long marches, 
or to any marching except what they could do on Boston 
Common, was a pretty stiff opening of the campaign. 

But while they were stuck in the slime of Lechmere's 
Point, Revere and Dawes were quietly making their several 
ways into the country in advance of them, and insuring a 
reception for them. The minute-men of Lexington, nobly 
true to the terms of their enlistment, to turn out at a 
moment's notice at any hour of the day or night, had 
assembled before the tardy march of the regulars from 
Cambridge had even begun, and remained under arms for 
three hours or more, awaiting further developments, when 
no news of the advancing column having come to hand 
they were dissmissed for a short time, but were soon called 
together again, "not" says the Rev. Mr. Clark, "with the 
design of opposing so superior a force, much less of com- 
mencing hostilities ; but only with a view to determine what 
to do, when and where to meet, and to dismiss and dis- 



.-//)r/7 Nineteenth 



perse." This was good strategy under the circumstances, 
and in view of the utter impossibility of this handful of 
men, standing off or even delaying the advance ot so strong 
a body of troops. They had previously sent a few un- 
armed men down the road towards Cambridge to gather 
information, but the regulars were sharp enough to suspect 
even unarmed men whom they met on the country roads at 
any such hour of the night, and had quietly gathered in 
these apparently inoffensive citizens. Captain l-*arker had 
just called the roll of his Company, at half past four o'clock 
and had ordered those of his men who were short of am- 
munition to supply themselves at the magazine in the 
meeting-house, when the head of the enemy's column ap- 
peared, only a few rods off. At that moment, according 
to the Rev. Mr. Clark's narrative, — and I always like to 
have a good Christian minister to fall back upon as a truth- 
ful witness : — 

"Some (of the JVlinutemen) to the number of fifty or 
sixty, or possibly more, were on the parade, and others 
were coming towards it. When within about half a quarter 
of a mile of the meeting-house, they (that is, the British) 
halted, and command was given to prime and load ; which 
being done, they marched on till they came to the east end 
of said meeting house, in sight of our militia collecting as 
aforesaid, who were about twelve or thirteen rods distant. 
Immediately on their appearing so sudden and so nigh. 
Captain Parker ordered the men to disperse and take care 
of themselves and not to fire. Upon this our men dis- 
persed, but many of them not so speedily as they might 

have done No sooner did they, (the enemy) 

come in sight of our Company, but one of them, supposed 
to be an officer of rank, was heard to say to the troops 
'Damn them, we will have them.' Upon which the troops 
shouted aloud, huzzaed and rushed furiously towards our 



1 8 Events of 

men. About the same time three officers advanced on 
horseback to the front of the body, and coming within five 
or six rods of the militia, one of them cried out 'Ye villains, 
ye rebels, disperse, damn you disperse,' or words to that 
effect. One of them said 'Lay down your arms ; damn 
you, why don't you lay down your arms.' The second of 
these officers about this time fired a pistol at the militia as 
they were dispersing. The foremost, who was within a few 
yards of our men, brandishing his sword and then pointing 
towards them, with a loud voice said to his troops, 'Fire ! 
by God, fire !' which was instantly followed by a discharge 
of arms from the said troops, succeeded by a very close 
and heavy fire upon our party dispersing, so long as any of 
them were within reach. Eight were left dead upon the 
ground ; ten were wounded." 

So far I have quoted verbatim from a pamphlet by the 
Rev. Jonas Clark, then minister of Lexington, the man at 
whose house Adams and Hancock had been met by Revere 
and Dawes a few hours before the occurrences just detailed. 

The pamphlet is entitled A Plain and Faithful Narrative 
of Facts. There is about it so evident an attempt to state 
matters truthfully and down to the minutest detail, that we 
must accord confidence to it as being as exact a statement as 
the Reverend and worthy gentleman knew how to make, of 
matters that he had himself witnessed. The saving clause 
"or words to that effect" that he attaches to the quoted im- 
precation of the British officer, is just delicious, and the 
"saids" and "aforesaids" that he introduces show his anxiety 
to be explicit. Paul Revere did not see much of the Lex- 
ington affair. He says he was at the tavern trying to secure 
a trunk of papers belonging to Hancock, when the enemy 
came in sight. Having got hold of the trunk he and his 
companion started with it for Mr. Clark's house, and, he 
says : — 



dpril Nineteenth 19 



"On our way we passed through the miHtia ; there 
were about fifty of them. When we had got about one 
thousand yards from the meeting house. In their front 
was an officer on horseback. They made a short halt ; 
when I saw and heard a gun fired, which appeared to be a 
pistol. Then I could distinguish two guns, and then a 
continual roar of nuisketry ; when we made off with the 
trunk." 

In an investigation by the l-*rovincial Congress on the 
23rd of April, Captain Parker made and swore to the fol- 
lowing statement in writing : — 

"I, John Parker, of lawful age, and commander of 
the militia in Lexington, do testify and declare that on 
the nineteenth instant, in the morning about one of the 
clock, being informed that there were a number of Regu- 
lar officers riding up and down the road, taking and 
insulting people, and also was informed that the Regular 
troops were on their march from Boston in order 
to take the Province stores at Concord, immediately or- 
dered our militia to meet on the common in said Lexington 
to consult what to do, and concluded not to be discovered 
nor to meddle or make with said Regular troops, if they 
should approach, unless they should insult or molest us ; 
and upon their sudden approach I immediately ordered our 
militia to disperse and not to fire. Immediately said troops 
made their appearance and rushed furiously to and fired 
upon and killed eight of our party without receiving any 
provocation therefor from us." 

(Signed) John Parker. 

Sworn to before three Justices of the Peace. 

Prettv nearly all of the survivors of Captain Parker's 
little company, at the same time made oath to substantially 
the same effect. 



20 Events of 

The British officer whom I have before quoted, tells the 
story as follows : — 

"About five miles this side of a town called Lexington, 
which lay in our road, we heard there were some 
hundreds of people collected together intending to op- 
pose us and stop our going on. At five o'clock we 
arrived there, and saw a number of people, I believe 
between 200 and 300, tormed in a common in the middle 
of the town. We still continued advancing, keeping pre- 
pared against an attack, though without intending to attack 
them ; but on our coming near them they fired one or two 
shots, upon which our men without any orders rushed in 
upon them, fired and put them to flight. Several of them 
were killed ; we could not tell how many, because they 
were got behind walls and into the woods. We had a man 
of the loth Light Infantry wounded ; nobody else hurt. 
We then formed on the common, but with some difficulty : 
the men were so wild they could hear no orders. We 
waited a considerable time there, and at length proceeded 
on our way to Concord, which we then learned was our 
destination, in order to destroy a magazine of stores col- 
lected there." 

These are all the accounts that I know of, of the affiiir 
at Lexington, from the pens of eyewitnesses or participants, 
written at or near the time the events occurred. Some tes- 
timony of survivors taken fifty years after seems to throw 
doubt on the statements of both Captain Parker and the 
Rev. Mr. Clark, but the exaggeration of the memories of 
old soldiers is proverbial, and 1 am'inclined to believe that 
the stories of both the military and the spiritual leaders of 
the Lexington soldiers are as true as those two conscien- 
tious and trustworthy witnesses could make them. 

That the Englishman's story as to the number of the 



April Nineteenth 



provincials, the t)rclcr tt) fire, or rather the firing without or- 
ders, as he has it, and the side that made the attack, should 
differ from the American account, although it agrees sub- 
stantially upon these points with the official report of Gen- 
eral Gage, is easily accounted for. Only the first two 
Companies of the British column, the grenadiers and light 
infantry of Colonel Smith's own regiment, the loth, de- 
ployed upon Lexington Common and fired upon the 
militia. This diarist, belonging to the 4th Regiment must 
have remained with his company in the column, and very 
likely out of sight of the actual firing. Colonel Smith 
had received explicit orders, before setting out, not to pro- 
voke a fight with the rebels, and to perform his duty, if 
possible, without bloodshed. It was his cue to make it ap- 
pear that he had done his best to carry out these orders, 
and that he, and through him the royal authorities, was not 
to be blamed for begining the war. The officer whom 1 
have quoted, and who seems to have been a pretty honest 
fellow, doubtless heard, later in the day, the particulars that 
he records, from Colonel Smith, or from some other officer 
who had helped the Colonel fix up his official version of 
the affair, and had agreed to back him up in it. 

But the expedition did not tarry many minutes at Lex- 
ington. The commander had a certain and definite object 
before him at Concord, six miles farther on. He was late 
already, owing to the long and needless delay he had been 
obliged to make at East Cambridge, and now that he had 
found out that the Yankees were not afraid to turn out, and 
had begun to realize that the whole country-side was in 
arms, he knew that it was necessary for him to hasten. 
He found the Lexington men in his way ; he had no time 
to waste in parleying or in threatening, and unmindful of 



22 Events of 

his orders not to begin a fight, he merely brushed them 
away and pushed on, despatching at the same time to the 
General at Boston an urgent call for the reinforcement that 
he was now convinced he would need. 

Col. James Barrett at Concord had been notified the day 
before that an expedition of a British force might be looked 
for almost any day, and had received instructions from the 
Committee of Safety, to send away, farther into the country 
as many of the stores as possible. These instructions were 
of course given for the reason that the defensive army was 
still in a chaotic condition ; probably not one of the new 
regiments of Minute-men had ever been brought together 
in one body ; even the Colonels had never seen their com- 
mands, and the Generals had not only not appointed their 
Staff officers, but were even, in many cases, unacquainted 
with the Line officers by name. In such a state ot things 
it was the most prudent course to remove the warlike stores 
to more inaccessible places. So from noon of the i8th all 
through the afternoon and night, every man and every team 
that could be raised in the town was engaged in this para- 
mount duty. Old men who had passed the fighting age, 
and young boys who had not yet come to it, took their 
parts in this service, and if tradition is to be believed, many 
of the women also aided to conceal more effectually some 
of the ammunition and such articles as it was important 
should be retained oh the spot for possible immediate use. 
It appears that up to that time there had been very little 
concealment of the material that had been collected, the 
provincials relying for the safety of such material princi- 
pally on the distance of the depot from Boston, the only 
place from which a raid upon it could be made. 

Before the British force had arrived at Lexington, Doctor 



April Nineteenth 23 



Prescott, who hud escaped from their guard between that 
place and Concord, had ridden around through Lincoln 
and notified Captain Sniirii, and, jnishing on to Concord, 
had given the alarm here to the sentinel on duty at the 
Court House, and had kept on his way five miles farther 
to Acton. Thompson Maxwell, a New Hampshire farmer 
on his way home from Boston, carried the alarm from Lex- 
ington to his brother-in-law Captain Jonathan Wilson of 
the Bedford Minute-men. So even before the firing at 
Lexington, Captains Smith of Lincoln and Wilson of Bed- 
ford, with parts of their respective Companies, had reached 
Concord and joined the one Company of the Concord 
Minute-men that had gathered on the green near the meet- 
ing-house. This was called "the Alarm Company" and its 
members were bound by the terms of their enlistment to 
remain always, at night, within a short distance of their 
"alarm post," the Court house. The men of the other 
Concord Companies were scattered here and there through 
the adjacent towns or on the roads, transporting to less ex- 
posed places the stores and munitions that the expedition 
of the "regulars" had been sent to destroy. This was the 
first thing to be considered ; the second was to alarm the 
country-side, and messengers were sent in all directions for 
that purpose, while the little force on Concord Common 
were slowly gathering strength as the men from the out- 
lying farms hurried in, and those who had been away with 
their loads got back to the town, and recognized that the 
time for saving the precious supplies by carrying them 
away, had gone by, and that their safety was now to be in- 
sured by forcible resistance. 

A messenger was sent to Lexington, and reached there 
just in time to witness the encounter there, but hurried 



24 Events of 

back with the news only that there had been a volley of 
musketry fired. He did not wait to learn the result of 
that volley, and for all the good his journey did, he might 
as well have omitted it altogether. It only served to prove 
that the soldiers were really out, and to enable the officers 
here to form some idea of the numbers of the invading 
force, and the probable time of their arrival at Concord. 
They could come in only over the direct road from Lex- 
ington ; there was no possible circuit that they could make 
so as to approach the town over any other. This was an 
advantage to the defenders, since they were called upon to 
establish but one outpost, and that not necessarily a strong 
one, for its line of retreat to the main body was perfectly 
secure. A few men, however, were posted beyond the 
bridges, principally to meet and direct the militia who 
should come in from the towns north and west, and 
Wright's Tavern, in the centre of the village, was fixed 
upon as the headquarters where reinforcements were to 
report. 

The road from Lexington enters the town from the east 
under the edge of a low sandy ridge, which begins a mile 
below the village, and extends, parallel with a little brook, 
to the public square ; here the ridge turns sharply toward 
the north, and the road follows its course. Haifa mile be- 
yond the public square the river approaches quite near the 
ridge, and is there narrower than for a long distance above 
or below, so the road turns sharply westward again to 
the Old North Bridge. On the further side of the 
river the land is higher, and the road, as it then was, after 
crossing a narrow meadow, divided and followed the course 
of the river in both directions on the high ground, up the 
stream toward Acton, and down the stream, over Punka- 



April Nineteenth 25 



tasset Hill, to Bedford and Carlisle. A mile or more up 
the river was the South Bridge, the way to Marlboro, 
Groton, and the whole country west and northwest. 

Amos Barrett, a young man then 23 years old, a nephew 
of Colonel James Barrett, and a private in Capt. David 
Brown's Company of Minute-men, has left in writing his 
account of the day, which I quote here, partly because it is 
the testimony, at first hand, of one who bore a part in 
those events, and partly because it has only been once 
printed, and that privately, and has not been "staled by 
often repetition." He says: — 

"The bell rung at three o'clock tor alarm. As I was a 
minuteman I was soon in town and found my captain and 
the rest of my company at the post. Before sunrise there 
were, I believe, 1 50 of us, and more of all these were there. 
We thought we would go and meet the British. We 
marched down towards Lexington about a mile or a mile 
and a half, and we saw them coming. We halted and staid 
till they got within about 100 rods ; then we were ordered 
to the about face and marched before them with our drums 
and fifes going, and also the British. We had grand mu- 
sic. We marched into town, and over the north bridge a 
little more than half a mile, and then on a hill not far from 
the bridge where we could see and hear what was going 
on." 

This retreat, which seems to have been a very orderly 
one, and without precipitation, was good strategy, in view 
of the disparity of numbers. All their immediate rein- 
forcements were to come from that side of the river, and it 
was a good thing just then to have the river between them- 
selves and the enemy. But Colonel Smith lost no time in 
attempting to dislodge them. As far as they were con- 
cerned it was enough to post a guard of three companies 



26 Events of 

under Captnin Laurie at the bridge to prevent them from 
crossing; a force amply sufficient, if well handled, to hold 
the bridge all day. Captain Pole with one company was 
detailed to hold the South Bridge, while to Captain Par- 
sons was given the particularly hazardous duty of crossing 
the river with two companies and moving two miles farther 
into the country to seize upon the stores deposited at the 
farm of Colonel Barrett who was the ranking officer of the 
militia, and was responsible to the Provincial Congress for 
all the stores that had been collected. He was an old man 
sixty-five years of age, and suffering from a disease that 
made walking almost impossible to him, though he was 
quite at home on horseback. He was with the little col- 
umn on the hill for a time, leading it from its first position 
(a little more than half a mile beyond the north bridge as 
Amos Barrett tells us,) to a point on the brow of the hill 
much nearer the bridge, where it would be in a much better 
position to make an advance to the town when it should 
have become strong enough to do so. Then, after giving 
a few general orders, especially charging them to let the en- 
emy fire first, he turned over the active command to Major 
John Buttrick, of the Minutemen, and rode away to look 
after the safety of certain pieces of artillery that were stored 
on his own farm. Tradition has it that these cannon were 
concealed by laying them in a furrow and ploughing an- 
other furrow over upon them, and that this was done after 
Captain Parsons's detachment that had been sent to sieze 
them was actually in sight. 

Among the Minutemen and Militia on the hill, there 
was naturally some confusion. Men were continually com- 
ing in, and were assigned to places in the ranks by Lieu- 
tenant Joseph Hosmer, acting as Adjutant, without wasting 



April Nineteenth 27 



much time in discussing the question as to whether they 
were or were not placed in the particular Company to which 
they belonged. Captain Isaac Davis came in from Acton, 
with his Company of about forty men, to which a few mo- 
ments later Lieutenant John Heald with the Carlisle con- 
tingent of sixteen men was joined, and at Captain Davis's 
own instance this Company was given the post of honor, 
the right of the line. In their march to Concord they had, 
without knowing it, passed very near to Captain Parsons's 
detachment which was at Colonel Barrett's farm only a few 
rods beyond the point at which their line of march joined 
the main road. 

While the body of patriots on the hill were thus mo- 
mently increasing in strength, that part of the British force 
that had remained in the village was busy with the work of 
destruction, but so great had been the activity of the towns- 
folk during the past few hours, (since noon of the i8th) in 
removing or concealing the precious stores, that the amount 
of damage done to public property was comparatively 
trivial. They managed to destroy some fifty barrels of 
flour; knocked off the trunnions of three iron cannon; 
burned the cannon carriages and a few spare wheels ; threw 
about five hundred pounds of cannon balls into the mill 
pond and into wells, from which the provincials later re- 
covered the most of them ; burned a few barrels of wooden 
spoons and trenches ; cut down the rebellious "liberty pole" 
and set fire to the Court House and to Reuben Brown's 
saddlery shop, neither of which, however, suffered much 
injury. Colonel Smith would have done better if he had 
retreated from Lexington with his purpose unfulfilled, for 
even if he had not lost a man, the object for which he set 
out was thoroughly defeated, the damage he had been able 



28 Events of 

to do to the cause of the revolutionists was not worth even 
the march hither and back, again. 

Of what happened at the Bridge I will let Amos Barrett 
tell the story. He says : — 

"While we were on the hill by the bridge, there were 80 
or 90 British came to the bridge and there made a halt. 
After a while they began to tear the plank off the bridge. 
Major Buttrick said if we were all his mind we would drive 
them away from the bridge, — they should not tear that 
up. We all said we would go. We, then, were not loaded. 
We were all ordered to load, and had strict orders not to 
fire till they fired first, then to fire as fast as we could. We 
then marched on. Captain Davis's minute company 
marched first, then Captain Allen's minute company, the 
one that I was in, next. We marched two deep. It was 
a long causeway round by the river. Captain Davis had 
got, 1 believe, within fifteen rods of the British, when they 
fired three guns one after another. As soon as they fired 
them, they fired on us. The balls whistled well. We 
were then all ordered to fire that could fire and not kill our 
own men. It is strange there were no more killed, but 
they fired too high. Captain Davis was killed and Mr. 
Hosmer, and a number wounded. We soon drove them 
from the bridge. When I got over, there were two lay 
dead, and another almost dead. We did not follow them. 
There were eight or ten that were wounded and a running 
and a hobbling about, looking back to see if we were after 
them. We saw the whole body coming out of the town. 
We were then ordered to lay behind a wall that run over a 
hill, and when they got near enough, Major Buttrick said, 
he would give the word fire. But they did not come as 
near as he expected before they halted. Their command- 
ing officer ordered the whole battalion to halt and officers 
to the front. There we lay, behind the wall, about two 
hundred of us, with our guns cocked, expecting every 
minute to have the word, — fire. Our orders were, if we 



April Nineteenth 29 



had fired, 1 believe we would have killed almost every 
officer there was in front, but we had no order to fire and 
they were not again fired on. They staid there about ten 
minutes and then marched back and we after them." 

This is an admirable piece of history writing, as clear, 
direct and unimpassioned as the multiplication table itself, 
omitting everything that verges on the melodramatic, even 
to the fact that the column of Minute-men marched down 
the hill with the fifes playing The White Cockade, an old 
Jacobite march intensely galling to the Hanoverians, and 
"the all-irrevocable order" of Major Buttrick, "For God's 
sake, fire !" We shall never have another so good account 
of what took place that April morning at Concord North 
Bridge. 

With this advance down Punkatasset Hill, the war of 
the revolution began. The Americans had invited it now ; 
they were fired upon, not as they were in the act of dispers- 
ing ; not wantonly and needlessly as the men of Lexington 
had been but a few hours before, but while they were ad- 
vancing with arms in their hands in act of war. They were 
the attacking party this time. If Captain Laurie's men had 
not fired, the Yankees perhaps would not, but they would 
have walked over those soldiers and crushed them into the 
earth, if need were. 

It may be said here, that the British soldier whom Amos 
Barrett says he saw "almost dead," was quite dead a few 
moments after. His musket was taken by one of the min- 
utemen who gave it to Abijah Pierce, the Colonel of his 
Regiment, who had come to Concord without a gun 
That musket, together with a cutlass carried by Samuel 
Lee, a grenadier of the loth Regiment, wounded and taken 
prisoner, and also the clumsy old broadsword of Colonel 



30 Events of 

James Barrett, are now in the collection of the Concord 
Antiquarian Society. 

The English officer from whose diary I have before 
quoted, adds some little details to the story of the fight at 
the bridge, as he saw it. He says: — 

"Captain Laurie who commanded these companies, sent 
to Colonel Smith, begging he would send more troops to 
his assistance." (This was just before the Provincials be- 
gan their advance.) "The Colonel ordered two or three 
companies, but put himself at their head, by which means 
he stopped 'em from being time enough, for being a very 
fat heavy man he would not have reached the bridge in 
half an hour, though it was not half a mile to it. In the 
mean time the rebels were coming down upon us, when 
Captain Laurie made his men retire to this side the bridge, 
which he ought to have done at first, and then he would 
have had time to make a good disposition, but at this time 
he had not, for the rebels had got so near him that his men 
were obliged to form the best way they could. As soon as 
they were over the bridge the three companies got one be- 
hind the other, so that only the front one could fire. The 
others not firing, the whole were forced to quit the bridge 
and return towards Concord." 

Plainly Captain Laurie was not the man to be entrusted 
with so important a duty as that of keeping the rebels on 
the further side of the river. But it was "all of a piece" 
with the rest of the affair, which, in a military way was a 
series of blunders all through, from General Gage's idiotic 
strategy in sending out his feeble little column into a hostile 
country without making any decent arrangement for their 
relief in case of disaster, or for their support in case of diffi- 
culty, down to the foolish weakness of poor Captain Laurie 
in minor tactics. 



April Nineteenth 3 1 



The Provincials having driven away the force from the 
bridge, and having waited for ten minutes, as Amos Bar- 
rett tells us, lying behind Elisha Jones's stone wall in 
hopes of getting in two or three more shots at them, did 
not immediately pursue the advantage they had gained, nor 
did they even leave a guard at the bridge to intercept Cap- 
tain Parsons's detachment on its return from Colonel Bar- 
rett's, two facts in the history of the day's events that seem 
to be regarded with wonder by most of the historians. I 
think however that they really show good military judg- 
ment on the part of the rebel leaders. It was reasonably 
to be expected that Captain Parsons hearing the firing at 
the North Bridge would march his men back over the other 
road by way of the upper bridge, which he knew had not 
been attacked and could not well be attacked as the forces 
were then posted. Our friend the English officer says, 
however, that Captain Parsons had not heard the noise of 
the skirmish, and knew nothing of it until his return, when 
instead of finding, as he expected. Captain Laurie's detach- 
ment still on guard, he found the bodies of the slain sol- 
diers lying in the road, with other evidences that trouble 
had begun. He was closly followed from Colonel Bar- 
rett's to the bridge by the two companies from Sudbury, 
whose natural line of march into the town was by way of 
the south bridge. But finding this bridge guarded by 
Captain Pole, they made a long detour so as to avoid pre- 
cipitating a conflict there. But it would not have been 
worth while for the little body of Provincials that had just 
been engaged at the north bridge, to await Captain Par- 
sons's detachment there. The sooner he got back to the 
village and rejoined the main body, the sooner would the 
whole column retreat from the town, for it was plain that 



32 Events of 

it must retreat very soon. The patriots were still greatly 
inferior in numbers, and were in no condition to risk a gen- 
eral engagement with his entire force. But not only were 
they growing stronger every moment, but in addition to 
that, the British commander must have recognized fully, 
that the whole country was aroused, and that the longer he 
remained in Concord the more rebels he would be called 
upon to meet on his way back to Boston. So it was good 
strategy for the rebels here in arms, to go across the fields 
behind the ridge as they did, and find a position from 
which they could harrass him on his retreat. They knew 
that if he were not attacked in the village, he would not be 
likely to do any more harm there, but would devote his 
energies to getting out of the situation with all despatch. 

The Rev. WiUiam Emerson says that for half an hour 
after Colonel Smith had got his men together again,"the 
enemy, by their marches and counter-marches, discovered 
great fickleness and inconstancy of mind, sometimes advanc- 
ing, sometimes retreating to their former posts." Natu- 
rally Colonel Smith and his officers disliked to abandon 
their expedition while they had so little to show for it in 
the way of results, and possibly had hopes for a time that 
the reinforcements for which he had sent from Lexington 
might yet come up in time to save the fortunes of the day. 
But this hesitation could not last long, and he appears soon 
to have come to a realizing sense that the raid was a 
blunder from the very beginning, and that General Gage 
was not competent to help him out of it. He must extri- 
cate himself and do it quickly before this elusive enemy 
should finally overwhelm him. 

So arrangements were hurriedly made for the transpor- 
tation of some of the wounded, and before noon the col- 



April Nineteenth 23 

umn that had entered the little town so proudly a few 
hours before was in full retreat, marching, however, in 
orderly and soldierly fashion and without apparent haste, 
as became the soldiers of the best army in the world. But 
they were not to get even so far as the boundary of Con- 
cord without further loss. The provincials had prudently 
kept the ridge between themselves and the enemy, and 
although Colonel Smith maintained a strong flanking party 
on the ridge, still this party had to be drawn in when the 
hill came to an end, at Meriam's corner, a mile or more 
below the village. Here a second skirmish occurred, of 
which we will let Amos Barrett- tell the story in his delight- 
fully concise fashion : — 

"After a while we found them marching back toward 
Boston. We were soon after them. When they got to a 
road that comes from Bedford and Billerica, they were way- 
laid and a great many killed. When I got there, a great 
many lay dead, and the road was bloody." 

No heroics and no dramatic touches from private Amos 
Barrett. Not even a brag as to how many of these dead 
men fell to his own gun, or how prominent was his own 
share either in this second event or in the earlier affair at 
the bridge. As an example of self-restraint in a story of 
exciting events told by a participant in them, it is remark- 
able, and impresses one, at once, with its absolute truthful- 
ness. 

With this second attack upon "the invading army," 
almost at the edge of Concord's territory, "Concord Fight" 
came to an end. "The first forcible resistance to British 
aggression" was an accomplished fact, and the war was 
actually begun. Hereafter Massachusetts was to seek 
peace in liberty, with her sword. How the orderly retreat 



34 Events of 

of the British force became converted into a scrambling 
flight with hardly a semblance of military discipline, before, 
faint and exhausted with their long march, and incapable of 
self-defence for want of ammunition, they came in sight of 
Lord Percy's Brigade of more than a thousand fresh sol- 
diers, that had just reached Lexington for their relief, it 
hardly needs to tell. They had been on duty for almost 
twenty-four hours, during which they had by that time 
marched twenty-five miles (some of them much more), and 
had labored like galley-slaves in hunting for and destroying 
an almost insignificant amount of rebel property ; harrassed 
for the last three or four miles of their retreat by an almost 
unseen enemy that practised a style of tactics to which the 
oldest veteran among them was a stranger, — of firing from 
cover and scarcely appearing at all in the open ; disheart- 
ened with the failure of their expedition and disgusted with 
the incompetency of the General who had sent them on it, 
they knew that their only salvation from surrender or utter 
destruction lay in this column of Percy's, which under a 
competent General would have been despatched to their 
relief early enough to have reinforced them at Concord, 
instead of having simply to cover their retreat from Lexing- 
ton. But even Percy with his fresh troops and his artillery 
was unable to change the fortune of the day, or to give to 
the affair any semblance of victory. It was a defeat and a 
disaster to the British arms, and one, the magnitude of 
which no one recognized at first. Boston and safety were 
still a long way off, and the road was becoming more and 
more difficult every moment. By far the greater part of 
the losses of the day were still to come, and though the 
retreat was resumed as soon as possible, and in good mili- 
tary order, it was not long before it became again an almost 



April Nineteenth 2S 



headlong flight. Minutemen and other armed l^rovincials 
sprung up on every side, every wall or thicket offering 
them cover from which to j'lour in their fire. It is still a 
matter of wonder and sinprise how far some of the Min- 
utemen had marched that morning, when we consider the 
small facilities o^ communication, and the condition of the 
country roads. That whole companies of men from points 
as far distant as Lynn and Salem and Danvers should have 
been notified and assembled, and then marched over the 
roads on foot, arriving at the scene of action in time 
to get a hand in the fighting, proves that the organ- 
ization of the Minutemen, loose and unmilitary as it was, 
was still actually effective, and that its members were true 
to the terms of their enlistment, — to be ready at a minute's 
warning. 

It was Concord Fight that made the siege of Boston 
and its final evacuation possible. Good generalship on the 
part of the British commander would either have avoided 
the raid on Concord, or would have so ordered it as to 
make its failure impossible. This single day's events 
aroused the courage and enthusiasm of the rebels, con- 
verted the doubters among them, and convinced the half 
hearted that they had now gone too far to retreat. Not 
only they, but the royal commander also, learned that their 
strength was not in their army, but in the people them- 
selves. This was a new and hitherto unknown factor in 
warfare. The old soldier could understand, and perhaps 
contend with, an organized and disciplined army making 
war by rule, but a whole people in arms was something he 
was not accustomed to, and this unprecedented condition of 
affairs so paralyzed him and his army that he was unable to 
conceive of any measure that would prevent this people in 



^6 Events of April Nineteenth 

arms from cooping him up for a year in Boston. It was 
Concord Fight that broke down forever military rule in 
America. Not all the King's horses nor all the King's 
men could ever set it up again as it was before, but thence- 
forth the people themselves were to rule, and the people 
themselves, through their volunteer militia, were to be the 
only military force. 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Heywood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 



Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

Telephone Connection. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage, 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 



GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor. 

Concord, Mass. 
Off Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH. EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1747-1776. 

Edited by 

Chari.es Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards. 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 
Thoreau Penholders, 15c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 

Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 

For sale by 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 

Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 
Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLEX SON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

HOLLIS S. HOWE, 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



TWO BOOKS by "Hargaret Sidney.'* 

Old Concord : Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., doth, ^2.00. 

"One of the choicest Fouvenirsof the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

"It is written in a style as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's ' Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 

Little Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
Frank T. Merrill. $1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famous North Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 
such a story as young people like ; as the foundi-r of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

are from 

^he patriot press 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

The Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
The Erudite (monthly) 
Concord^ A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 



^be ITown of Concor^ 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 



BIRTHS, 
AND 



MARRIAGES 
DEATHS 



from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for $^ each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



1 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



HOW OUR 
GREAT-GRANDFATHERS LIVED 



BY ALBERT E. WOOD, C. E. 



I .K9-19( 



v.. 



"A truly great historical novel.*' — Omaha World-Herald. 

THE COLONIALS 

By ALLKN FRKlSrCII 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass. , has written a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few weeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle says : 
'• It is seldom that we are favored with so strong, so symmet- 
rical, so virile a work ... a work of romantic fiction of 
an order of merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 

Price With Colonial Decorations $1.50 

The Furniture of Our Forefathers 

By ESTHKR SINGHiETON 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 12^ full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which arc in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net. Write for prospectus. 

DOUBLEOAY, PAGE ft CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, N.Y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIE' 

House on Lexington Road 

Containing a large collection of 

LOCAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RELICS, CHI), 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 



is Open every afternoon from May i to November i 

at which times the Secretary will be 

in attendance 

Admission 25 Cents 



1 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Hcywood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 



Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

Telephone Coiuieciion. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 
Proprietor. 
Concord, Mass. 

Off Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1747-1776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 



H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards. 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 
Thoreau Penholders, 15c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 
Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 
For sale by 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 

Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 

Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLEX SON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE, 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 



Main St., Concord, Mass. 



HOW OUR 
GREflT-GRflNDFflTHERS LIVED 



READ BHFORE THI-; 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY ALBERT E. WOOD, C. E. 



Published by the Concord Aiitiquarian Socijiy 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, 1886. 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 



THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . President. 
SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. . . . U,,, ^_.^,„,, 
THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD i 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS, CONCORD. 



How Our Great-Grandfathers 
Lived 



In his History of Concord, Shattuck says, under date of 
1777, "Efforts were often made, during the Revolution, to 
regulate the prices of labor and merchandise. In 1777, a 
committee, chosen by the town for the purpose, reported 
the prices of various kind^ of common labor, etc., etc. All 
who varied from these established prices were prosecuted, 
and treated as enemies." I have before me the original 
records of the doings of that committee, kept by the secre- 
tary, Nathan Stow. It reads as follows: 

"The prices of the necessaries, as fixed by the Select- 
men and Committee of Correspondence etc., of Concord, 
as ordered by the Great and General Court of this State, 
in an amendment or the lare act entitled 'an act to prevent 
monopoly and oppression.' " 

Then follow the prices in shillings and pence, six shil- 
lings being equivalent to a silver dollar. "Farm labor, 3s. 
8d., per day; Carpenter's wages, 3s. lod., per day; Cord- 
wainers: Men's shoes of the best sort, 8s; Women's shoes, 
6s. 4d., per pair ; Making men's and women's shoes, find- 
ing thread, wax, and heels, 3s. 6d., per pair, and smaller 
sizes in like proportions. Woman's labor : Spinning linen, 
5d., per skein, 14 knotted; and other spinning in propor- 
tion : Weaving plain common cloth, yard wide, 4 pence 
half penny per yard ; Striped ditto, 5 pence per yard. 



4 How Our 

Woolen, ell wide, 5 pence half penny per yard. Good oak 
wood, 13s. 4d., per cord. Good split pine wood, los., per 
cord. Charcoal, 4 pence half penny per bushel. Live 
Shoats, 3 pence half penny per pound. Pigs, under two 

months, per pound. (This piece was torn ofi\) 

Horse hire, 3 pence per mile, to ride out. (That is, on 
lorse back.) To go in Chaise, 4 pence per mile out. 
Chaise hire, 3 pence per mile out. Good upper leather, 
hides weighing ^c^ lbs., green, well tanned and curried, 
34s., per hide, [I5.67]; and other hides in proportion, 
according to their weight. Good calf skins, weighing 10 
lbs., green, well tanned and curried, 9s., and other skins in 
like proportion, according to their weight. Best plain sad- 
dles, complete, with crooper, etc., 4^. Double, or full 
welted saddles, 4^ 6s. A good bridle, with good common 
bitt, 6s., and other work in the saddlers way, in like pro- 
portion. Entertainment : Keeping a horse, or a pair of 
oxen a night, or 24 hours with good English hay, 2s., or 
grass in a good pasture, is. 8d. Gating a horse with two 
quarts of oats, 4 pence. Dining a man with a good com- 
mon boiled dish, is. Boiled or roasted meat, is. 4d. 
Good common supper or breakfast of coffee or chocolate 
with good toast, is. If meat with the same, is. 4d., and a 
supper or breakfast of bread and milk, 6 pence. Flip or 
toddy of West India rum, or other spirits, not to exceed 
IS., per mug. Flip or toddy made of good New England 
rum or other spirit distilled in New England, 10 pence per 
mug, and larger quantities of mixed liquors in like propor- 
tion. Butter by the firkin, 9 pence per lb., 1 1 pence by 
the single lb. Milk 1 pence per qt. Rye, or rye mealr 
5s. 8d., per bushel. Indian corn or meal, 3s. 8d., pe, 
bushel. Dressing woolen cloth, twice shaving, not dying 
the same, 5 pence 3 farthings per yard. Ditto, with dear 
color, dressed in the best manner, not to exceed is. 6d., 
per yard. Shoeing a horse round with plain shoes, 6s. 
[|i.oo]. Moving shoes, and setting round, is. 4d. Ox 
shoeing in proportion to shoeing a horse according to the 



Great-Grandfathers Lived 



usual custom as heretofore practiced. A good axe, los. 
Laying an axe, 6s. 6d. All other smithing work in like 
proportion. Salted pork, 9 pence per lb. (This price for 
salt pork at first surprised me; but, seeing upon another 
paper, the price of salt at that time, 7s., per bushel, it ex- 
plained it.) Mutton, hind quarters, 4 pence per lb., fore 
quarters, 3 pence half penny per lb. Veal, hind quarters, 
4 pence per lb, fore quarters, 3 pence half penny per lb. 
Cheese, 5 pence per lb., this year's make," 
The paper is dated. Concord, June 9, 1777. 

Below the date is this: 

"N. B. The above regulations are to be in full force two 
months from the i6th of June inst., agreeable to the order 
of the General Court. It is signed by Ephraim Wood ^ 
Jr., Nehemiah Hunt, Nathan Merriam, John Buttrick, 
Isaac Hubbard, Joseph Merriam, Kphraim Potter, David 
Wheeler Jr., Abishai Brown, and Nathan Stow. 

Selectmen and Committee." 

The first three named were the selectmen, and the 
others, the Committee of Correspondence. It seems to 
me there are a great many ways of looking at this paper, 
the first and most serious one arises from the fact of its 
bringing to our minds, so forcibly, the exceedingly trying 
and critical times that made such an effort necessary. I 
think the year 1777 to Concord, the most trying one in 
history. Her people were engaged in a war, the final re- 
sults of which were at that time very doubtful. Mr. 
Emerson had died, and they were without a pastor. It 
was after two years of hard fighting. Concord had then, 
about sixty men in the army, and was liable soon to have 
another large call. The pay of the soldier was small, and 
hard to get, and the currency rapidly depreciating. One 
dollar in currency, at the beginning of 1777, was worth 



How Our 



32 cents at its close. A month before, Danbury, Conn., 
(like Concord, two years before) had been attacked to de- 
stroy supplies stored there for the army. But, unlike Con- 
cord, the town was partly burned, several of its inhabitants 
murdered and thrown into the flames. There were de- 
stroyed, at the time, 1 800 bbls., of beef and pork, 800 
bbls., of flour, 2000 bu., of grain, clothing for a regiment, 
100 hhds., of rum, and a large number of tents. It is easy 
to imagine the terror this spread over the minds of the 
Concord people. Burgoyne was marching down from the 
North, and likely to cut New England off from the rest of 
the Country. They were liable to be shut in upon all 
sides, by sea and by land, and, thus fenced in, what spite 
might not the English soldiers vent upon them, as the 
starters of the Rebellion. 

With these facts before us, can we not see with what 
serious earnestness this Committee of Concord entered upon 
this duty, assigned them by the Qeneral Court ! And 
although this effort to regulate the prices of merchandise 
and labor was a failure, or perhaps worse, this does not 
detract from the earnestness of the men, or from the inter- 
est of the paper before us ; and yet, looking back through 
the mist of one hundred and twenty-five years, upon the 
action of this Committee, knowing, as we do, that through 
this very earnestness, with patient long suffering, the 
victory was at last gained, and that the whole story of the 
Revolution, though dark in many of its chapters, has a 
bright ending, knowing also that these wise founders of the 
government, however wise and however far seeing, and 
with whatever high ideal of a perfect government they may 
have had, yet were "wiser than they knew," in laying that 
foundation, and that we today are enjoying the benefit of 



Great-Grandfathers Lived 



it, we can afford^ I think, now, to look upon the ludicrous 
side of the picture. Imagine, if you can, these ten dignified 
men, than whom no men in town had more dignity, or in- 
fluence, or power, the Selectmen and Committee of Safety 
of the town, met by order of the Great and General Court 
of the State of Massachusetts Bay in New England, with 
great deliberation, and much study, doubtless, deciding 
what price a poor woman should charge for spinning a skein 
of yarn, or how much Boniface might demand for a good 
common boiled dish or a glass of toddy. 

But to me, the most interesting fact to draw from this 
paper is the manner of living in those days : that is, what 
did they eat ? What did they drink ? And wherewithal 
were they clothed? The question that strikes me the 
most forcibly is, with the prices given, how could a labor- 
ing man with a large family (and most of them had large 
families), live at all? Take for instance the carpenter with 
3 s. lod., per day, how could he support a wife and say 
eight children (about the average) — ten in family? Feed, 
clothe, shelter, and educate them on 64 cts., per day ? 
The carpenter of today, and generally with a small family 
too, gets four times this. It is true provisions are higher, 
but they do not average twice as high. The man who 
lived upon 64Cts., then, by living in the same way, could 
easily live on |i.oo today. Thoreau was not the first man 
to figure out the problem of cheap living. What he 
figured out for amusement, our great-grandfathers, yes, and 
their great-great-grandfathers before them, had figured out 
from pure necessity — the art of living economically. 

This is a relative term. What would be economy for a 
man worth a million, would not be economy for the car- 
penter receiving $3.00 per day. And what would be 



How Our 



economy for this man, would not be the same for the car- 
penter of loo years ago, working for 64 cts., a day. And 
again, the way of living of those carpenters of 1777, in the 
eyes of the poor Indians, whom our forefathers of Concord 
(I am proud to state) honorably bought out, was the 
height of extravagance. A story to the point. In 1855, 
I was building a portion of a railroad in the northern part 
of the state of Georgia. A young man came to me one 
day, and said he was just married, and if I would set him 
up at housekeeping, he would build himself a shanty, and 
work for me. I asked him what he would require to start 
him. After consulting his wife, he said if they had two 
good blankets, one baking kettle, one boiling kettle, and a 
long handled spider, they could live happy. I furnished 
these and from what I saw, think they kept their word. 
This shows how little is required, if but love go with it. 

Let us leave the question of cheap living for a short 
time, while we read other papers, giving more light upon 
the living at that time. And first, I will quote a part of 
the will of one of my great grandfathers, James Barrett, 
Esq., son of Col. James of revolutionary fame. He was 
the eldest son, born Jan. 4, 1734, and, though later in life, 
he turned the scales at 250 pounds, and stood more than 
six feet in his stockings, the day he was born he was 
measured in a quart tankard, and did not fill it. So says 
Tradition. 

He was eminently a religious man. His will shows a 
devout, unquestioning faith, that is refreshing. In that 
part of his will which provides for the support of his wife, 
Millicent, Mr. Barrett gives her what she did actually live 
upon in comfort for a good many years, and it gives what 
Judge Wood, in his will (a portion of which I shall read 



Great-Grandfathcrs Lived 



later on) calls special and honorable provision for her sup- 
port. 

The will begins as follows. 

"In the name of God, Amen ! 

The eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord, 
one thousand seven hundred and ninety two. 

1, James Barrett of Concord, in the county of Middle- 
sex, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Esqr., enjoying 
a comfortable measure of bodily health, and of perfect 
mind and memory, thanks be given to God therefor, 
calling to mind the mortality of my body, and knowing 
that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and 
ordain this, my last will and testament. That is to say, 
principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul 
into the hands of God that gave it, and my body I recom- 
mend to the earth, to be buried in a decent. Christian like 
burial, at the discretion of my executor, nothing doubting^ 
but at the general resurrection, I shall receive the same 
again by the mighty power of God. 

And as touching such worldly estate as it hath pleased 
God to bless me with in this life, I give, and devise, and 
dispose of the same in the following manner and form : 

Imprimis — 

I give and bequeath unto Millicent Barrett, my dearly 
beloved wife, all my household furniture, to be at her own 
disposal, excepting one bed to each of my daughters, that 
shall remain unmarried at my decease ; also the use and 
improvement of that part of my now dwelling house that I 
have lately built, with the front room and front chamber in 
the westerly part of the old house, as long as she remains 
my widow. Also the free use and improvement of my 
chaise, as long as she remains my widow. 

And my will further is, that my eldest son, his 
heirs and assigns, pay to my said wife, and to her only\ 
six Spanish milled silver dollars, each and every year of her 
natural life, for which her annual receipts shall be his dis- 



lo How Our 

charge, whether she be married or unmarried. I also or- 
der that my said son, James Barrett, provide for my said 
wife, a good horse for her to ride, either in the chaise or 
otherwise, when and where she pleases, and that he provide 
and keep for her two good cows and one good farrow cow 
in the winter season. Also a sufficiency of firewood for 
her to burn, cut fit for her fire, and carried into the house. 
Also ten bushels of rye, and ten bushels of Indian corn, 
one hundred and twenty weight of pork, and one hundred 
and twenty weight of beef, four bbls. of cider ^ twenty 
weight of flax, eight lbs. of sheep's wool, and two lbs. of 
cotton. Also a sufficient quantity of sugar, tea, spirits^ 
and every other necessary of life for her to live according 
to a woman of her station in life, and to treat her friends as 
usual. All to be provided by my son, James Barrett, an- 
nually, as long as she remains my widow." 

And this is the special and honorable support spoken of, 
and for the times, it was an honorable support. If it 
seems meagre to us, it is because times have changed, and 
not because the support was not sufficient and satisfactory. 

I have copies of other wills, written about the same time, 
by the first men of the town, and they all give their wives 
about the same support. Judge Wood, a little later, gives 
his wife Millicent, (and by the way it is the same Millicent 
spoken of in Mr. Barrett's will) fifteen bu. of grain, half 
rye, and half Indian corn, ground into meal, one hundred 
and eighty lbs., of beef and pork, well fatted and salted, 
half a bu. of salt, and as much malt, fifteen lbs. of flax 
from the swingel, two lbs. of cotton, and two lbs. of 
sheep's wool, twenty-one lbs. of good brown sugar, and 
six lbs. of loaf ditto, three lbs. of tea, a sufficient quantity 
of spirits, of such sorts as she may desire to enable her to 
treat her friends and relatives as heretofore, and two barrels 
ot cider. Sauce ot every kind brought to her hand, par- 



Great-Grondfathers Lived 1 1 



ticularly apples, forty lbs., butter, and fifty lbs., cheese. 
She is also to have six dollars in money. 

Although these papers cover a period of twenty-five 
years, there is little difference in the articles of food men- 
tioned. In the first paper, are named the articles that were 
considered by the Selectmen and the Committee actually 
necessary to live upon ; in the wills, it is the support, given 
in the most generous spirit, by men standing high in the 
town, to their wives, who were in the very best society. 
So 1 think we can take them as fair exponents of the 
living of the day. 

For bread, we have nothing but rye and Indian corn 
mentioned, and this not the fine bolted meal and flour of 
today, but coarse and unsifted, direct from the mill, and 
what does this represent? Coarse brown bread, johnny 
cake or hoe cake, hasty pudding, rye bread and rye biscuit, 
yes, and rye pastry, that I am afraid would give us wry 
faces, if we attempted to eat it today. But the brown rye 
and Indian bread was the standard, and but little else was 
used. Wheat flour was obtainable, and was classed with 
sugar as a luxury, and only used upon especial occasions. 
Of meat, in the wills, only salt beef and pork are men- 
tioned. They were dependent for meat entirely upon 
their own raising, and could not, as we can today, draw 
upon the whole country for a supply. Consequently, 
most of it was killed and salted in the cold weather, and 
kept through the summer. Once in a while, and upon 
especial occasions, a lamb was killed, and in the fall, at the 
end of harvest, chickens and turkeys were offered up in 
Thanksgiving, and the killing of the fatted calf had great 
significance, but the standard dish for every day was fried 
salt pork, or boiled dish. 



12 How Our 

Mr. Barrett furnishes his wife Millicent, 240 lbs., of 
salt pork and beef, two thirds of a lb. for every day in the 
year; and this for a gentlewoman in her declining years. 
No tenderloin steak, nice spring chicken, or lamb chop to 
coax a delicate appetite ; no lamb broth, or carefully pre- 
pared beef tea for a sick chamber, but coarse salt beef and 
salt pork alone. As for drink, Mr. Barrett gives Millicent 
four bbls. of cider — 128 gallons — 512 qts., — about 3 
pts. a day for the 365 days in a year. This seems strange 
to us, yet I do not believe it was anything uncommon. 
At that time, everybody drank cider, and the constant use 
of it increased their capacity for it in a wonderful degree. 
I have often heard my father tell the story of a family 
Hving in the southerly part of Carlisle, consisting of an 
old man and his three sons. They owned a large farm, 
covered all over, as most farms were in that day, with wild 
apple trees. Every fall they put 100 bbls., full of cider in 
the cellar, and they managed to have them all empty for 
the next year's harvest. This Vv^ould give them about two 
and one half gallons apiece daily. In this family, the old 
rule, that the last one up in the morning should be tapster 
for the day, was strictly adhered to, so that one of them, at 
least, was sure to be busy every day. This was, of course, 
an extreme case. But cider was the common drink at 
meal times, as well as between meals, and probably the 
quantity of hard cider, drunk daily by many of them, 
would make any man today boozy for a week. The 
question is, were these people so inured to it by constant 
use, and by an active out of door life, that it did not affect 
them, or was booziness their common condition, and there- 
fore not noticable ? 

Mr. Barrett's will also provides that Millicent shall have 



Great-Grandfathers Lived 



sugar, tea, and spirits for her to live according to a woman 
in her station in Hfe, and to treat her friends as usual. 
Fashion held the same cruel sway over the people then, 
that it does now, although perhaps under a slightly differ- 
ent code of laws. Hospitality required and Fashion 
dictated that every caller should be treated to some kind of 
spirit, and rum at a funeral was absolutely necessary. I 
have often heard old people speak of how indignant Dr. 
Ripley would be if he found it wanting upon such occa- 
sions. 

Tne Antiquarian Society has in its collection some fine 
specimens of decanters, demijohns and glasses, handed down 
from "ye olden tyme," that help bring to our minds pic- 
tures of these entertainments when fashion and hospitality 
were so happily united. 

We have seen that Mr. Barrett's will furnished his 
widow with spirits to treat her friends as befitted her 
station. How is she furnished with clothing, befitting 
that same station ? Twenty weight of flax, eight lbs. of 
sheep's wool, and two lbs. of cotton. This is all. Can 
any lady see how these three items can represent so much ? 
Perhaps you can picture to yourselves the days, weeks, yes, 
even months of hard work this means ; the carding, spin- 
ning, and weaving, then hours and hours over the horrid 
dyepot, kept in the chimney corner ; and all this, before 
one stitch could be taken to make a garment. This was 
the work expected of almost every woman at that day. 1 
think we shall all agree in saying, that whatever a woman 
may look forward to in the future, she can certainly con- 
gratulate herself upon her already improved condition in 
this particular. In old portraits, and sometimes in maga- 
zines of a later da) , we see pictures of dresses of that time. 



14 • How Our 

If they are a little scrimped in some of their dimensions, as 
compared with the dresses of today, can v/e at all wonder ? 

There is a curious law in Nature that the moment a 
flowering plant is furnished with a superfluity of nourish- 
ment by the liberal hand of a gardener it begins to apply it 
to the beautifying of its blossoms by adding leaf after leaf 
to its already beautiful covering of petals. Compare the 
showy, double dahlia with the single one, or the magnifi- 
cent double rose, of whatever name, with the modest, old 
fashioned, half starved, scrimpy single one, growing, as we 
remember, in the hedges of our grandfathers, and I think 
you will see the point. 

If the dresses of that day, as compared with the present 
fashion, are typified by the single rose, with no superfluity 
about it, have we not a full explanation of it? Mr. Bar- 
rett also furnishes Millicent with six Spanish milled silver 
dollars, each year, and this was all the pin money she had. 
It is hard for me to imagine a condition of things where a 
lady could get along comfortably with this amount. I can 
see that she could pay for her shoes, and perhaps for a few 
other articles necessary for a lady's toilet, and put a few 
cents in the contribution box of a Sunday. But, with but 
six dollars a year, and all these things paid for, and no other 
purse to go to, where did her bonnet come from ? I give 
this conundrum to the ladies. 

From what I have said, 1 think it is easy to solve the 
problem of cheap living of that day. Everybody had a 
farm, and almost every farmer had a trade. Even ministers 
and doctors lived by farming. Dr. Ripley, with a salary 
of less than $233 P^^ year, had to live largely from his 
farm, and Dr. Hurd was one of the most extensive farmers 
in town. Almost nothin"f of the actual necessities of life 



Great-Grandfat hers Lived i 5 



irni- 



h;id to be bought. A newly married couple required fui 
ture, but furniture, once procured, lasted for a life time, 
and much longer, but for food and drink, the farm fur- 
nished it all. 

The desire we have today for sweets, is an acquired 
taste, not much indulged in by our great-grandfathers. 
Coffee and tea were mostly for company. A brown bread 
crust, or some rye, or barley, browned to a nice shade, 
made a drink good enough for every day, for the grown up 
folks, or that part of them who did not drink cider, and 
bread and milk was the universal food for children. Bread 
and cider was a very common dish, especially for Sunday. 
The cider was prepared in a way similar to flip, either 
with a loggerhead, or over the fire, and toasted brown 
bread crusts crumbed into it. 1 remember eating a dish 
of it, one Sunday, prepared by my father, in memory of 
old times. All the rest of the family had gone to meet- 
ing, to stay all day, and this was our dinner. I then 
thought it was excellent. How much of this was attribu- 
table to a hungry boy's appetite, and how much to the ex- 
cellence of the dish, I am unable to say. 

As for clothing, everybody kept sheep, and almost 
everybody raised flax. No young woman was fit to marry, 
till she was able to convert these into clothing and house- 
hold goods ; and but few did marry, till they had, with 
their own hands, manufactured a supply of such things for 
heir own wear. Give a thrifty housewife at that time, 
the wool from a few cossit sheep, and with a little help, 
the whole household would be comfortably clad, if not 
elegantly. One article of clothing, however, she could not 
furnish, viz : the shoes. For the children, during the 
long summer months. Nature furnished out of untanned 



1 6 How Our 

leather, a shoe, softer, better fitting, requiring less mending, 
and (as many of us can testify) altogether more satisfactory 
to the boy, than any shoe ever tanned by man. But for 
the winter months, and all the year for the grown-up folks, 
shoes had to be manufactured by the cordwainer, and paid 
for. The trade of shoemaking, like its name, was, about 
this time, in a transition state. The custom had been for 
the cordwainer to go from house to house shoeing the 
whole family, from leather furnished from the farm, and 
tanned at the nearest tannery. Later on, shops were more 
generally used, and the Spanish name of "cordwainer" was 
changed to the better English one of shoemaker. 

Let me quote a few extracts from an old account book 
kept by my grandfather David Wood. He donned his 
freedom suit Oct., 23, 1781, and immediately after started 
in business for himself The book covers a period of six 
years, from his becoming of age, to the time of his going 
with Capt. Brown's company in 1786-7, to suppress 
"Shay's Rebellion." This book shows that at least one 
man followed pretty closely the prices fixed by the select- 
men, and committee of safety in 1777. As a specimen of 
book-keeping, it is certainly unique. As a rule, in ordi- 
nary book keeping, the third person is used ; but in this, 
the first person is used, the creditor addressing the debtor 
personally, thus : 

Taking the account of Charles Miles, a butcher. 

Capt. Charles Miles to me Dr. 

Charles a pair made 3sh 8d 

Samuel a pair mended i " 4" 

Your shoes mended i " 4" 

Ruth and Polly a pair 7 " 2" 

Mrs. Miles a pair 3 " 8" 



Great-Grand fat hers Lived 



This work must have been done at Mr. Mile's house, 
as the charges are ail made under one date, and simply for 
the making and mending. In the account of Ivzekiel 
Miles, in August he charges for "work at Mr. Miles six 
days and a half, at four shillings per day." Charges like 
this are quite common, showing that the old custom of 
working from house to house, or "whipping the cat," as it 
was then called, was not entirely done away with. An 
account that may be of interest is found on page 29. It 
must be remembered that the Rev. Dr. Ripley had just 
married Mrs. Emerson with a family of five young chil- 
dren. 

Mr. Ezra Ripley Dr., to me 

Your boots foxed 

Billy Emerson a pair made 

A pair of girl's shoes made 

Yourself a pair made 

A pair of little shoes mended 

The little negro's shoes mended 

Billy a pair soled 

Mrs. Ripley a pair mended 

Phcbe a pair mended 

["Billy" was Ralph Waldo Emerson's father.] 

In this account, you will see that Dr. Ripley found his 
own leather. This old book shows how universal the 
practice was, and that, as far as possible, this expense, Hke 
the others, was paid for from the farm. The account 
against the Town is the only one where the whole stock is 
furnished by the maker. The charges for the year 1782 
are as follows : 



ysh 
3" 


8d 


3" 
3" 


4" 
8" 




10" 


I" 


2" 


I" 


2" 


I" 
I" 


4" 
2" 



1 8 How Our 

Nabby Flag a pair 8sh 

Thomas Cook a pair lo" 

Blood girl a pair 8 " 

Nab. Flagg a pair mended 2 " 8d 

A pair for Submit Flagg 6 " 

Nabby Flagg a pair 7 " 

Nabby a pair mended 2 " 8" 

Work one day and half 6 " 

This account shows who the town's poor were for that 
year, and in fact the book might almost be called a Genesis 
of the town ; as they all had to have shoes, and most of 
their names will be found in it. 

I have several times mentioned the use of spirits at that 
time. We have seen how necessary and important it vv'as 
considered by the selectmen and committee in 1787. 
We have seen that there were 100 bbls. of rum stored 
for the use of the army at Danbury, and we have seen 
how important a place it held in the provision a thoughtful 
husband made for his widow. 

How was it used, later on ? 

I have an account book kept by Stephen Wood, another 
son of Ephraim Esq., covering a period from 1803, to 
1 817. Mr. Wood kept a country store and sold, as the 
book shows, almost everything that was bought by the 
people at that time. The most profitable trade of all 
country stores was in spirits, and his was not an exception. 

The study of this book for a few hours, has been to me 
the most impressive temperance lecture I have ever read. 
Probably at no time in the history of the Country, have 
there been more rapid changes in the condition of the 
people than the period covered by this book. Still, the 
fashion for toddy did not change, and with the increasing 



Great-Grandfathers Lived 19 

ease and wealth of the people, is it strange that some men 
fell victims to it ? 

Many of us can call to mind stories told by mother or 
grandmother of family secrets and family sorrows of that 
day ; of husband, fxther, or brother that brought grief and 
poverty upon a household. There was a skeleton in many 
a family closet, a spirit of evil, and that spirit materialized, 
was the rum jug. 

This book shows just where that rum jug came from. 
In it, can be pointed out the names of many men of wealth 
and standing, who ended their days in poverty and sorrow. 

But this is not a temperance lecture. My object is to 
point out the great change in the habits of the people since 
then. 1 will quote a few extracts to show this. Bear in 
mind that this store was not considered a rum shop, but 
was a common country store, selling to families all the 
necessaries of life, dry goods as well as wet. Everything 
that the farm did not furnish was kept here. Compare 
your dry goods and grocery bills of today with the charges 
in this book, which differs in no essential particular from 
the books of all country store keepers of that time, and 
you will be astonished, and perhaps shocked. And in 
making the following quotations, I have aimed to pick out 
fair average bills, not exceptional ones, and to give all the 
articles bought during the times mentioned, just as they 
are charged, not, however, carrying out the prices. We 
will look at the account of Peter Wheeler; at random, we 
will take his account for April 1806. The articles bought 
are as follows : t lb. coffee, i gal. N. E. rum, i iron 
shovel, I gal. W. I. rum, i gal. N. E. rum, 1-2 peck salt, 
iqt. brandy, lib. coffee, i gal. N. E. rum, i gal. N. E. 
rum, I gal. N. E. rum, one gal. rum, iqt. brandy, i gal. 



20 How Our 

W. I. rum, I lb. coffee, i gal. W. I. rum. All this, in the 
month of April. Of course, Mr. Wheeler did not drink 
all this himself, as, at that time, he kept a good many men 
at work {or him, and bought his rum by tne gallon. But 
he was a hard drinker, and kept a still harder set of men at 
work for him. Although at one time one of the richest 
and most successful business men in the town, and a mem- 
ber of the Social Circle, he died in poverty. 

Take Dr. Prescott's account beginning June i, 1805: 
2qts. rum, 30Z. snuff, 2 lbs. sugar, 1-4 lb. tea, i pt. gin, i 
gill rum, 3 3-4 yds. silk, 2 qts. rum, 1-4 lb. tea, 21-2 oz. 
snuff, I sk. silk, 2 qts. W. I. rum, 1-4 lb. tea, 2 lbs. 
sugar, I lb. candles, 2 qts. rum, 1-4 lb. hyson tea, 2 lbs. 
sugar, 1-2 doz. lemons, i bottle snuff, 3 pts. rum, 5 
lemons. All this from the ist to 17th of the month, and 
a fair average for the year. 

Take Dr. Hurd's account. May 3, 1805 : 5 qts. molas- 
ses, I qt. W. I. rum, i qt. N. E. rum, 7 lbs. sugar, i qt. 
wine, I qt. N. E. rum, i qt. rum. i qt. wine, iqt. W. I. 
rum, I qt. molasses. All these charges from 3rd to 24th. 
A fair average of his account through the book. 

Take the Rev. Dr. Ripley's account for November 
I 8 10: I gal. N. E. rum, i gal. wine, i gal. W. I. rum, 2 
mackerel, 4 lbs. cotton wool, i gal. W. I. rum, 2 lbs. 
coffee. For November, 4 gals, of liquor ! These extracts 
are fair samples of the whole book. The word "rum" 
appears oftener than every third line. Farmers, "butchers, 
bakers, and candle makers," ministers, doctors and all 
used it at about the same rate. 

A pint of rum today, makes a man a fool and a brute. 
Why didn't it then ? I asked this question, a few days 
ago, of an old man, who was a boy living in Concord 



Great-Grandfathcrs Lived i\ 



during the time from 1800 to 1820, the latter part of this 
time with the second Nathan Barrett upon the hill ; and 
from his answers I draw the following conclusions : first, 
the rum was entirely different from the liquor used today. 
There was perhaps as much alcohol, but less poison, and it 
did not make a man as crazy. Another reason was, they 
were drinking it all day. He had seen Mr. Barrett drink 
six glasses before breakfast, in haying time. They drank 
often, and worked hard, and in this way, worked off the 
effects of it. 

It was in this way the temperate man drank most of his 
rum, and it was the intemperate man who drank during his 
leisure. Another reason, they were used to it from child- 
hood, and became inured to it. It was as much of a dis- 
grace to be habitually drunk then, as now, and a man felt 
more his own responsibility in the matter, if he got drunk. 
He felt it was his sin, and no part of it belonged to the 
rum seller, or to his minister, to his wife, or to the neigh- 
bor, who drank with him, or to the Commonwealth that 
made the laws ; his manhood stood out, and was a greater 
protection than any law could have been. I asked the old 
man how much rum a man could drink at that time with- 
out hurting him, and he said he thought Mr. Barrett 
drank, upon an average, two quarts per day, and he never 
saw him intoxicated. He was considered a temperate man 
by the community. I inquired if the word "drunk" had 
the same significance then as now. He thought it had 
not. There were few men not under the influence to a 
certain extent, of the liquor they drank, and but little 
notice was taken of it; so long as his legs could be trusted, 
he was all right, and not considered drunk. 

Such was the old gentleman's answer to my question ; 



22 How Our 

and yet I do not think it answers it. It corroborates the 
story of the old account book, as to the amount of Hquor 
that was drunk, but it does not tell us why it did not make 
brutes of the drinkers. 1 must leave this question for the 
Temperance Society to answer. Surely these men of a 
century ago, almost without exception, drank lots of rum ; 
surely also they were not all brutified by it. 

I have made mention of the wills of James Barrett Esq., 
and of Ephraim Wood, both of whom made generous 
provision for a "beloved wife Millicent," Judge Wood 
having married James Barrett's widow. There is quite a 
little romance in this connection, the story of which I 
would like to tell. In Mr. Barrett's will, after making 
honorable provision for her support, as I have said, he 
goes on : 

"And my will further is that if my said wife should 
marry, that she relinquish all that is to be provided for her 
by this, my last will and testament, excepting the furniture, 
and the six dollars a year. And if she is left a widow 
again, she may return to the house again, and have every- 
thing provided for her, as when she was my widow. I 
also order, that, at my said wife's decease, she have a 
decent, Christian-like burial, and a handsome pair of grave 
stones set over her grave by my said son, James Barrett." 

Can you see anything in these provisions more than a 
husband's tender care for a lovmg wife, who has shared 
his joys and sorrows for forty years, the faithful and 
honored mother of his ten children ? 

Yet, follow the story of their lives through, and you will 
almost say there is something prophetic in it. Dec. 22nd, 
1788, Hannah Barrett, daughter of this James and Milli- 
cent, married Daniel Wood, son of Ephraim Wood Esq., 



Great-Grandfathers Lived 23 

and Mary his wife. This marriage knitted more strongly 
the ah-eady intimate friendship between the two famiHes. 

Dec. 21, 1799, upon his death bed James Barrett ac- 
knowledges his will (written by himself seven years pre- 
vious) before Ephraim Wood Esq., and upon the 30th he 
joins the great majority, and Millicent enters upon the 
honorable support provided for her by his will. 

July 18, 1807, Mary, wife of Ephraim Wood Esq., 
dies; and six months later, Ephraim, aged seventy-five, 
marries Millicent, aged seventy, widow of his life-long 
friend, James Barrett, and mother of his son's wife. Natu- 
rally this marriage of two such old persons, made a great 
deal of talk, and a broad smile spread itself way across the 
town, and across the border into the neighboring towns, 
even to the outer limits of the country ; for Ephraim had 
been a judge in the civil courts of the country for more 
than twenty years, and was well known. 

Millicent left the honorable support of James, and went 
to abide with Ephraim, taking with her what furniture she 
wanted, and that right yearly to the six Spanish milled sil- 
ver dollars. They were married at the Barrett house, and 
I regret that we have no account of the wedding. But 
when we remember that Millicent was the mother of ten 
children — 7 daughters and 3 sons — and Ephraim the 
father of an equal number — 7 sons and 3 daughters — 
most of both families married and with families of their 
own, we can guess what a time it was. Ephraim took his 
wife home in his chaise, escorted by a large procession of 
chaises filled with people from the wedding party. 

There is a little story handed down to us in connection 
with this procession. Mrs. Ephraim Wheeler, senior, 
sister of Dr. Heywood, was sitting in the old Ephraim 



24 How Our 

Wheeler house that still stands upon Sudbury street. The 
view was then clear from this point to Main street and as 
the procession was passing, her daughter-in-law, Mrs. 
Ephraim Wheeler, Jr., daughter of Deacon Parkman, ran 
in and said "Mother, don't you want to see the 'weddin- 
ers' go by?" Her answer was, "No, I wouldn't get out 
of my chair to see them ; a couple of old fools, getting 
married at their age." 

The curious part of the story is, that within a year after, 
this wise old lady, was married to Deacon Parkman, father 
of the daughter-in-law. After her wedding, her daughter 
asked her if she remembered calling these people fools, 
and her answer was, "Yes, 1 little thought I should make 
another. 

Judge Wood, in taking Millicent home, carried out the 
second provision in the will of James Barrett. I have 
heard a good many old people speak of this marriage, and 
say it was a genuine love match, and the great social event 
of the season. Soon after this, Ephraim Wood makes a 
will. A portion of this I have already quoted ; but in 
order to finish my story, I shall have to quote more of it. 
We have seen how he made provision for her remaining in 
his house, and provided for her support. It then reads as 
follows : 

And whereas James Barrett Esq., late of Concord, de- 
ceased, the former husband of my beloved wife aforenamed, 
in his last will and testament, made special and honorable 
provision for his then wife's support during her widow- 
hood, but that provision to cease if she married again ; but 
if she should become a widow a second time she might re- 
turn to her house again and enjoy everything as when she 
was the widow of James Barrett Esq. 



Great-Grandfathers Lived 25 



Now my will is, 
concerning my beloved wife Millicent, that if it is her 
choice and pleasure, after my decease, to return to her 
former home, and enjoy the ample support there made for 
her as aforesaid, then my will is, that she have all the 
furniture that she brought with her when she came to live 
with me, and all I have done for her by way of clothing 
etc. Also two hundred dollars to be paid her as soon as 
may be after she has made her choice, and a seat in my 
pew in Concord meeting-house at her pleasure. 

The rest of my story is soon told. Six happy years 
these people lived together, and she is again a widow. 
Soon after, she wisely takes her household goods, together 
with the two hundred dollars so generously bestowed, and 
returns to her former home and people ; thus receiving all 
the provisions of the will, the necessity for which Mr. 
Barrett so strangely foresaw. 

She lies beside her first husband in the family tomb in 
the Hill Burying Ground. And here we will leave them, 
knowing as we do, that that part of his will relating to 
"Such worldly goods as God had blessed him with," was 
faithfully executed. Hoping and trusting, for James and 
Millicent, that the unquestioning faith and hope so warmly 
cherished through a long life, and so devoutly expressed in 
the will, is lost in fruition. One word more. In what I 
have herein written 1 have made pretty free use of the 
names of some of our ancestors. Far be it from me to 
cast the slightest shade upon their honored names. If I 
have made a little merry at times, it is with the customs of 
their times, and not with the people. I hope I shall not 
be misunderstood. 



At . . . 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 
may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 



GUIDE BOOKS 



CONCORD VIEWS, 

and books by 

CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 




Druggist. 


The Colonial, 




Monument Square, 


Huyler's Candies 


Concord, Massachusetts. 


Souvenir Postal Cards 






V^ILLIAM E. RAND, 


Photographs, etc. 


Proprietor. 


Concord, - Mass. 





Battle, April 19, 1775. 

OLD nmill BBIDOE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carria;-cs w iil: cc;r,,p( -Lent guiucs to 
meet all cars uii Moiiuir.er.l Square, 
the centre ci' .;!' poinis ot historic 
interest: 

Carriages m.i\" he ordered in advance. 

With, tweniy ;. cii .' (-.perienee col- 
lecting antiques wiiii ;i local hihtor}', I 
have instructed ilie j>uidi s the associa- 
tion of the pcjiiiis of interest, w hieli 
gives n)C an opioitunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
leasonaWe prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, ilass. 

J. W. CULL, Hanager. 



MGMANU8 BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 

Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, - Mass. 

Opposite Fitchburg Depot 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BiOVGLES 

SFOBTI^G 09003 
AHO SUNDRIES 

5:1 TsTSNG, RLPAJRIINO 

AND TLACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
\our Autonioiiile conies to griel, or 
\oiir I'.lectric Lights wont work, John 
M. Ke\'es will make any kind ot re- 
pairs for ^•ou ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

bliOP. MONLMLNT ST., Telephone 145 

OITJCH, IIEYWOOB'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CUNCORl), MASS. Telephone 28-4 



At 



MISS BUCK'S 



ii^lLLIKERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



I 



TWO BOOKi^ hv "HiircrnrA* <iM. 



loncorb Hntiquaiiait Society 
pamphlets 



PRICE 15 CENTS EACH 

low TRea^v 

/ Preliminaries of the Concord Fight 
II The Concord Minutemen 

III Wright' s Tavern 

IV Concord and the Telegraph 
V The Story of an Old House 

VI John Jack the Slave and Daniel Bliss the Tory 
VII The Plantation at Musketequid 
^III The Events of April Nineteenth 

IX How Our Great-Grandfathers Lived 
Others in preparation 



!and such other things as its I I 
customers care to pay tor I I 



For sale at 

er 

Vliss E. A. Buck's, A. W. Hosmer's, H. L. Whitcomb's ^J 

and by the Secretary of the Society J^ 



Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



opposite Fitchburg Depot I MAIN ^t. opposi 



LC LUC u« 



TWO BOOKS by -nargaret Sidney.'* 

Old Concord: Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, ^2.00. 

"One of the choicest Fouvenirsof the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

"It is written in a stjle as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's ' Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 

l^ittle Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
Frank T. Merrill. I1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famous North Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 
such a story as young people like; as the founder of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. I 



le Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

from 

■^bc patriot press 

Concord Massachusetts 
lich also prints 

he Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
""'he Erudite (monthly) 
Concordy A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as iis 
customers care to pay tor 



Hbe ^own of Concor^ 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
AND DEATHS 

from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850, 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for $1^ each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Cleric 



CONCORD ANTlQUARlAiNF SOCIETY 




INDIAN RELICS 
IN CONCORD 



BY ADAMS TOLMAN 



V 



**A truly great historical novel." — Omaha World-Herald. 

TH E COLONIALS 

By ATJuESN JTRENCH 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has written a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few weeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle says : 
•♦ It is seldom that we are favored with so strong, so symmet- 
rical, so virile a work . . . a work of romantic fiction of 
an order of merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 
Price fVifh Colonial Decorations $1.50 

The Fflrniture of Oar Forefathers 

By ESTHER SLN-OI^ErTOlSr 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which arc in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net. Write for prospectus. 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, M.Y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

House on Lexington Road 

Containing a large collection of 

LOCAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIOHARY RELICS, CHi» 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 

is open every afternoon from May i to November i 

at which times the Secretary will be 

in attendance 

Admission 25 Cents 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Heywood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 



Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

IclepJionc Con/icction. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 

Proprietor. 
Concord, Mass. 

OfF Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1 747- 1 776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
54.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards. 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 
Thoreau Penholders, 15c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 
Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 

For sale by 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 

Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 
Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLEX SON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE, 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 




J2 

1 A 



Q ' 



7 -f . 

ei n 

H « 11 

~t I I 

I o 

C II 

7 ' 

ID i 

? K I 

K a 

t 9) 



^ Q 






!k 



so'? 

H r !• 

^ ^ :C3 

PJ H I 
10 ® : 



1-0 6 



INDIAN RELICS 
IN CONCORD 



READ BEFORE THE 

CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY ADAMS TOLMAN 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 






CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



Established September, i{ 



Executive Committee for 1901-02. 



THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES 

SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. 

THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 

THOMAS TODD .... 

GEORGE TOLMAN .... 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



President . 

"Vice Presidents, 

Treasurer. 
Secretary. 



Publication Committee 

The REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS. CONCORD. 



Indian Relics in Concord 



About twelve years before the landing of the Pilgrim 
Fathers, we are told, a great plague raged among the Indian 
tribes of Massachusetts with such fatal severity that ninety 
per cent of their numbers were carried off, and several of 
their villages were entirely depopulated. In the first 
chapter of the History of Concord, Mr. Shattuck remarks 
that "This great mortality was viewed by the first Pilgrims 
as the accomplishment of one of the purposes of divine 
Providence, by making room for the settlement of civi- 
lized man, and by preparing a peaceful asylum for the per- 
secuted Christians of the old world." But we of the pres- 
ent day are not quite so sure as were our ancestors of two 
hundred and fifty years ago that we can interpret the pur- 
poses of Providence, if indeed there be any divine purpose 
properly so-called. We have substituted the rigorous law 
of Nature for the special operation of a personal ruling 
power ; the relentless dogma of "the survival of the fittest," 
for the doctrine that any race or any creed has a private 
and particular claim upon the divine aid and protection. 

So we lay the ravages of the small-pox among the Massa- 
chusetts Indians in t6o8, just as we do those of the yel- 
low-fever among the white inhabitants of Florida in 1888, 
to their own invincible ignorance, and their habitual disre- 
gard of elementary principles of hygiene and medicine 



Indian Relics 



rather than to any special purpose of Providence that it is 
within our power to comprehend, much less to formulate. 

But after the white men once got here, the gradual des- 
truction of the red men was inevitably to follow, just as 
when any superior race has once entered upon the territory 
of an inferior ; for whether we adopt the Providential 
doctrine or the Darwinian theory, we are alike forced to 
accept as being substantially true, the dictum of Dr. 
Holmes' Little Boston, that the Indians were "a provi- 
sional race, — nothing more ; exhaled carbonic acid for the 
use of vegetation ; kept down the bears and catamounts ; 
enjoyed themselves in scalping and being scalped ; and then 
passed away, or are passing away, according to the pro- 
gramme." 

Of this "red crayon sketch of humanity, laid on the 
canvas before the colors for the real manhood were ready" 
only a few traces remain, but, of those few, the most fixed 
and the most likely to endure, are those which at the first 
thought would seem the most ephemeral, mere words of an 
unwritten language which no one now alive can speak, or 
could understand if spoken. How many of these Indian 
words, modified more or less, have been adopted, not only 
into our colloquial New England speech, but even into the 
EngHsh language itself, I do not know ; but the list is 
certainly a long one, and many examples will readily occur 
to everyone. But there are other words from the same 
source, but more conspicuously showing their savage origin, 
that applied as proper names to our hills and rivers have 
become as fixed and unchangeable as the hills and rivers 
themselves, and will continue to the latest day as our im- 
mortal and imperishable legacy from our Indian predeces- 
sors, the lingering traces of the red crayon sketch, that can 



in Concord 5 

never be wholly effaced from the canvas ot the great 
picture of History. 

I have spoken of the language as unwritten. True, 
some devout souls, anxious for the Christianizing of the 
fast fading remnant of the aborigines, did make the attempt 
to manufacture a written and grammatical language out of 
their uncouth speech, but, at the best, it was only a lame 
and halting attempt to express the harsh gutturals and 
semi-articulated consonants of their half brutish utterances, 
by means of the literal symbols already in use to indicate 
the softer and more harmonious tones of civilized tongues. 
The spelling, of course, was phonetic, as nearly as might 
be, but as there were sounds and tones that the English 
language did not possess, and had no letters for, these had 
to be expressed approximately. Accordingly we find in 
Roger Williams's "Key into the Indian Language," in the 
Rev. Josiah Cotton's "Vocabulary," and in Eliot's Bible, 
the same word spelt in two or more different ways ; that is, 
the English letters which at one time or to one person 
appeared most nearly to represent the sound of the word, 
at another time or to another person appeared not to do so, 
and as there was no dictionary to serve as a Court of 
Appeal, the spelling necessarily was almost as irregular as 
was the spelling of the English language by those same 
ancient worthies. 

Certain letters, B, F, L, and R, for instance, do not 
appear in any Indian word in Eliot's Bible, or in Cotton's 
Vocabulary, and we may infer therefore that those sounds 
were absent from the language. Roger Williams informs 
us that some of the northern tribes used the sound of R, 
and some of the southern the sound of L, but among the 
Massachusetts they were not heard. The title of Eliot's 



Indian Relics 



Bible — Up Biblum God — which brings in two sounds 
they did not have, must have been almost as much of a 
jaw-cracker to the "praying Indians" as were some of their 
own hendecasyllabic words to the patient "apostle" him- 
self. Where we find a B in Indian words as we have them 
to day, we shall find it represented in these old vocabu- 
laries by P, M, or W, if we can find it at all, which is very 
doubtful, for they are exceedingly incomplete, leaving out 
many of the common words in daily use, perhaps because 
these had come to be understood by all, but carefully noting 
down and preserving the formidable array of syllables 
which represented to the Indian mind the ideas of original 
sin, total depravity, regeneration, damnation and the like 
theological points, the impartment of which to the savages 
was the only reason the pious compilers had for troubling 
their own heads with their uncouth speech. 

All Indian proper names, whether of persons or of 
places, were in some way descriptive. This, indeed, was 
originally the case among all peoples, though civilized 
man has for the most part left off applying descriptive 
names even to places, and, except in the way of nick- 
names, has entirely ceased to apply them to persons. 
Every Indian name meant something ; more than that, it 
meant something individual ; and where you find the same 
name applied to two different places, you may be certain 
that there is some one characteristic feature that belongs to 
both, in so prominent a degree that it fairly describes them 
both. This fact will sometimes be found of great assis- 
tance in conjecturing the meaning of an Indian place-name, 
where the vocabularies will not help us out. 

Mr. Shattuck, on the authority of a manuscript letter of 
the late Samuel Davis of Plymouth, "derives Musketaquid 



in Concord 

from moskeht, meaning grass, and ohkeit meaning ground.' 
We need look for no better authority than Judge Davis, 
who in his time was better versed than any other man m 
the Indian Language ; but if we were inclined to hunt tor 
confirmation, we should find n in Cotton's Vocabulary 
So when the General Court on Sept. id, 1635, ordered 
that there shall be a plantacon att Musketequid," .t is as .t^ 
thev had said "there shall be a plantation at the meadows, 
a description that fits this particular river valley better than 
it fits any other in the then limits of the Colony. The 
„,„,e Musketequid was probably first transferred from the 
meadows themselves to the river by Wilham Wood wh« 
delineates the river under that name in his "New England s 
Prospect" published at London in .634 and contammg a 
map of the country. 

n son,e of the old maps I find the rtver we know as 
the Assabet, set down as the Elizabeth. Poss.b y the 
stream was so named by some early dweller upon ,ts banks 
and the Indians, unable to master dther the L or the M, 
sounds, got as near it as they could^ The R-. N. W 
Jones, in a pamphlet published m New York m i 67, 
Lnslates Assabet by "miry place," ^ut he g,ves no d - 
vation and I am unable to find in any of the vocabulanes, 
any authority or support for his view 

Personally I am inclined to derive ,t from Ass.m, mean- 
ing a fountain from which water is drawn for drmknrg and 
so used in Ehot's Bible. Et, ut, it or at- the sound of 
T, preceded by an obscure vowel -was an 'nseperable 
particle, conveying the idea of place. Thus the Ind.an 
Bible was printed, according to its title page, K^^W"""^' 
or "at Boston." Assabet then I should translate as the 
stream we cWnk from." Higher up on the nver I find ,t 



Indian Relics 



sometimes called Assabasset, which would mean "a drinking 
place where the water widens out." 

Shawsheen is translated, by the same Mr. Jones, as 
meaning "shiny or glossy." Here again he gives no 
authority. The syllable Shaw, in the Massachusetts lang- 
uage, always conveys the idea of narrowness, the having 
two sides which may be seen at the same time, or, as Prof. 
Horsford phrases it, "parallel-sidedness." The rest of the 
word goes beyond me, nor can I get any light from Indian 
scholars. A friend who has spent two summers in the 
woods of north eastern Maine, writes me that his Indian 
guides gave the name of osheen to certain boggy spots at 
the head-waters of brooks. 

Possibly this may be a clue to our Shawsheen, and I 
hazard it as a conjecture, that the word may possibly mean 
a long and narrow bog, though I should hardly like to 
insist on that interpretation. 

Nashua or Nashoway, and Nashoba, I take to be iden- 
tical, and in that I am supported by the authority of the 
Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull of Connecticut, the greatest 
living authority, indeed I may say the only living authority, 
on the Algonquin language. The name occurs in various 
places in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and 
Connecticut. Cotton's Vocabulary has Nashuae, meaning 
between or in the middle. Eliot uses it several times in 
his Bible, with that meaning. Mr. Trumbull defines 
Nashoway as the half way place or possibly in some 
instances as the place between two great rivers, or two 
chains of hills. To render it as "the middle ground" 
would seem to express it exactly ; a striking analogy to 
that Middlesex, or middle Saxon, in old England, that we 
still preserve in our place name here, without stopping to 



in Concord 



think of its origin. Nashoba was also a half way place 
from somewhere to somewhere else, and just exactly as our 
old Concord settlers had their "Half-way Brook" on the 
road to Sudbury, so had their Indian neighbors their 
Nash-ow-bah, or half way place, on some one of their lines 
of communication. 

This same word comes in again in Nash-aw-tuc, the 
final tuc being an inseperable verbal form, always meaning 
a river large enough for canoes, and appearing in countless 
river names. Nashawtuc, then, means simply "between 
the rivers." 

Annusnuc, (for the letter R does not belong in it,) is a 
hill. The inseperable terminal nuc or noc always means 
hill, for instance Monadnoc, Cushnoc and the like. I 
find in Cotton's Vocabulary and in Eliot's Bible, the word 
An-noh-sin, meaning secure, or, to speak more accurately, 
conveying the idea of security, which includes the ideas 
of strength, safety and freedom from alarm, I fancy this 
is the word we want : An-noh-sin-nuc, the secure hill, just 
as Monadnuc means "the bad hill," that is — hard to climb, 
perhaps. Annusnuc, as the highest hill or elevation in the 
neighborhood, was particularly a place of security, for its 
summit affords a view of a wide stretch of country in all 
directions, so that the approach of an enemy could be seen 
afar off, and the hill itself could be easily defended. 

The late Prof. E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge, who had 
some pretensions to rank as an authority in the Indian 
language, considered this the true derivation and meaning 
of the name, and was by no means inclined to accept Mr. 
Shattuck's foot note on page 198 of the History of Con- 
cord, which, conjecturally, derives the name from "Qunnos- 
nuck, signifying a pestle^ from the circumstance that rocks 



Indian Relics 



out of which the natives made their mortars and pestles 
were to be found there." Mr. Shattuck adds that "Por- 
phyry, out of which the Indians used to make their arrow- 
heads, is also found there," an interesting fact, but not one 
that bears particularly on the signification of the word. 
Ponkatasset. Gov. Wm. Coddington of Rhode Island, 
in 1640 writes to his worshipful friend Gov. John Winth- 
rop of Massachusetts with regard to "a lewd fellow, one 
Thomas Savery", whom Winthrop had in durance, and 
who had some time before stolen Coddington's shoes. 
Perhaps if he had waited until the next gubernatorial 
election, he might have been elected to fill those shoes, 
instead of having to steal them. This lewd fellow had 
lived, when he was at home, "at a place on the main, 
called Ponkatasset." This was at the south end of Pocas- 
set, now Tiverton R. I., and was forty years later the 
residence of Capt. Church the great Indian fighter. This 
terminal asset, appears in a great many names, and always 
conveys the idea of "widening out." Pocasset is the same 
word as Pequosset the original name of Watertown, and 
the first syllable po or pe always means water. Pequosset 
then meant "where the water (of Charles river) widens 
out," though when the Great and General Court of the 
Colony referred to it as "Pig's Gusset" they took what we 
must consider an inexcusable liberty with the Indian 
tongue. Ponka or Pompa, for it occurs in both forms, 
meant high or steep. So I should hazard "a high place 
that widens out," that is to say, a broad-topped hill, as the 
definition for Ponkatasset. This same pompa appears in 
the old name for one of the hills of Stow, Pompasiticut, 
which I should venture to translate as "a high or steep 
sandy place." 



in Concord t t 

Nobscot, a hill in Sudbury, is nobsq, a stone, and tiie 
locative ut ; that is, a "stony place", just as Penobscot in 
Maine is "a stony water place," 

Singularly enough our ponds retain no trace of their 
Indian names, except in one case, Magog, which means 
simply "a lake"; unless calling it Nagog we derive it from 
Nayaug, a verbal form meaning " having many angles", 
but if we do that, we should properly attach the locative 
ut. We find Magog in composition, in many Indian 
names of lakes, for instance Memphre-magog. Of course 
we must dismiss as too childish for serious consideration, 
the story of Walden being derived from some mythical 
"Squaw Walden", for the name is pure Saxon, occuring in 
dozens of places in old England, and possibly our pond 
was named by some old settler in memory of one of these, 
familiar to him in childhood's home, for many of our first 
colonists came, it will be remembered, from "the Weald 
(or Wald) of Kent". 

We find no other Indian place names in Concord, our 
good ancestors having apparently preferred to replace the 
uncouth but significant savage words by almost equally 
uncouth but far less appropriate names that perhaps 
reminded them, in their great homesickness, of the land 
they had forsaken. Many of the Puritan names, however, 
were modeled on the Indian theory, that is to say, they 
were descriptive ; still we could almost wish that "Bateman's 
Pond," or "Mr. Flint's Great Pond" or "Nine Acre 
Corner" could have come down to us with their savage 
appelations unchanged, which may have been in actual 
meaning not one whit more poetic than the obtrusively 
prosaic and practical English ones. Indian personal names, 
apparently, were not translated by our good fathers, but 



12 Indian Relics 

when they converted a savage, instead of turning his native 
name into its EngHsh equivalent, Hke Sitting Bull, or 
Standing Bear, or Young Man afraid of his Horses, they 
just baptised him with some good old Hebrew name, 
like Jethro or Jehojachim, ad majorem Dei gloriam. 

I offer these philological speculations with some diffi- 
dence, and yet they are the result of a great amount of 
correspondence with Indian scholars, and such personal 
study as I have been able to give to all accessible author- 
ities. The uncertainties of the original spelling of Indian 
names, discouraging as they are, are yet less of a stum- 
bling block to the investigator of the present day, than 
are the corruptions which modern tongues have introduced 
for the sake of euphony or through ignorance of the value 
of the separate syllables of the word ; so that, as Mr, 
Trumbull says, it is often necessary for the investigator to 
visit the spot himself, note down its distinguishing features, 
pick out the Indian words that are applicable, and then 
reconstruct the word or name, as nearly in the likeness of 
what we now know as the Indian name as we can get. 
Even this process is often entirely impracticable, for the 
genius of the Indian language is so utterly different from 
the genius of civilized tongues, the workings of the savage 
mind so entirely unlike the processes of thought in culti- 
vated man, that it is impossible to make a translation 
sometimes, even when we know precisely what every sylla- 
ble signifies. 

"Their ways were not our ways, neither were their 
thoughts our thoughts." To comprehend them fully we 
must be able to put ourselves in their place, to see with 
their eyes, to think with their thoughts. We notice the 
same thing with children. A child will string together a 






in Concord ij 

lot of words, which to us appear without sequence or 
signification, but to the child himself that utters them, they 
are as logical in arrangement, and as pregnant with mean- 
ing, as are the Orphic utterances of a Concord philosopher 
— to himself alone of all the world. 

To turn now from philology and philosophy, let us look 
for a few moments at the visible and tangible relics that 
Wibbacowet and Tanantaquick, Squaw Sachem and Old 
Jethro have left behind them here, and which may still be 
found, by careful searching along the banks of our river, 
almost every field high enough to escape the Spring freshets 
furnishing its specimen. In his History of Concord, Mr. 
Shattuck makes particular mention of two localities, 
instancing the shell-heap on the bank of the river south of 
Mr. Samuel Dennis's, and a place "across the vale south 
of Capt. Anthony Wright's", where, he says, "a long 
mound or breast-work is now visible, which might have 
been built to aid the hunter, though its object is unknown." 
Capt. Wright lived on the South Acton road, beyond the 
present site of the Reformatory, and the long mound is 
still to be seen, and still retains the traces of its artificial 
origin, though the plough of the white man has to a great 
extent effaced its lines. I am not aware that any scientific 
archaeologist has ever made an examination of it to deter- 
mine the value of Mr. Shattuck's conjecture as to its 
purpose, so we will leave it as we found it, a puzzle yet 
unsolved. 

The shell-heap, or "clam hill" as it is locally termed, is a 
more interesting object, as it is one of a class of the remains 
of primitive man that are found very widely diffused along 
the sea-shore and the banks of considerable rivers, not only 
in America, but in Europe as well, and to which archa^olo- 



14 Indian Relics 

gists have given the name of kitchen middens. It is 
situated on the left bank of the river (South Branch) a 
httle distance above the F. R. R. bridge, just where the 
river makes a sharp turn. The bluff is perhaps fifteen 
feet high, and the heap contains (or did contain, the shells 
having been carried away as dressing for the land), hundreds 
of bushels of shells of the river mussel {Unio (?) complana- 
tus). Among them have been found bones of the smaller 
wild animals (including even the deer), and of the game 
birds common in this part of the country, together with 
fragments of stone implements and the like. Evidently 
here was an aboriginal feasting ground, a sort of Indian 
Downer's Landing, where the savage picnickers used to 
resort for clam-bakes. It gives one a good idea of the 
appetite and digestive powers of the hardy sons of the 
forest, to find this visible witness that they could and did 
eat and relish the river mussel, the most utterly uninviting 
and nauseous of any of the living products of our river. 

Besides these two localities, there may be mentioned the 
following, from which relics have been gathered in con- 
siderable numbers: — at Gulf Meadow in Sudbury, just 
over the Concord line: — on both sides of the river near 
Mr. George Wright's : — on the Lincoln side of Fairhaven 
Bay : — in a little piece of land between Egg Rock and 
the hemlocks ; which is possibly the place where, according 
to Mr. Shattuck, the principal Sachem dwelt: — on 
land of Dr. Emerson and Mr. Dakin near the North 
Branch: — on the right bank of the river below Flint's 
bridge: — and on the left bank from Mr, William Hunt's 
to the Saw Mill or Wigwam Brook. There are several 
places away from the river, such as "the great fields", so 
called from the beginning of the settlement: — a spot in 



in Concord i 5 



the edge of Lincoln, on Mr. Samuel Hartwell's farm: — 
and another in the valley of Spencer Brook on the former 
Concord Stock Farm. These were at least camping sites 
if not permanent villages. 

It is very evident then that the Musketequid valley 
maintained a large aboriginal population. But what has 
become of their mortal and personal remains? We know 
that they buried their dead rather than burned them, and 
stout old William Wood tells us that "it is their custom to 
bury with them their bows and arrows, and a good store 
of their Wampompeage and Mowhacheis ; the one to 
affright the affronting Cerberus ; the other to purchase 
more immense prerogatives in their Paradise." But I 
know of but two instances where human bones have been 
found in such places as to give reasonable presumption 
that they were the bones of Indians. One of these was in 
the Spencer Brook valley, and represented the remains of 
one Indian ; the other in the R. R. cutting a little above 
Egg Rock representing two bodies. We may imagine 
that there is some peculiar quality in our soil or its drain- 
age, that is unfavorable to the long preservation of buried 
bones, but it would seem that in some of our agricultural 
or road-making operations that have been going on for 
two centuries and have left hardly a foot of our soil undis- 
turbed, some of these burial deposits of arrows and 
wampompeage and mowhacheis, imperishable in themselves, 
would have been brought to light. . Still, I have never 
heard of even one such discovery (in this town) that could 
actually be identified as a burial deposit. 

Of course arrow-points, or the chipped implements 
commonly so called, are the relics most commonly found. 
The Indian hunted far and wide; his arrow heads were 



Indian Relics 



dropped in the field, or carried, sticking in the bodies of 
wounded animals far into the depths of the forest, so that, 
as Thoreau said, they may be picked up anywhere. But 
even Thoreau, fifty years ago, could hardly expect always 
to have the luck to pick up one at his very feet, exactly 
at the moment he was asked the question where they were 
to be found, unless indeed he had, as the boys say "faked 
it" ; and to us who are not Thoreaus, and who are under 
the disadvantage of gleaning after him in the fields he 
worked before we were born, the finding of even a dozen 
specimens in a whole day's search, is a notable experience. 
In recent years, I think more specimens have been found 
on Mr. D. G. Lang's land below Flint's Bridge, than in 
any other single locality. 

These chipped implements may be considered to 
be, — I St. arrow heads: — 2nd. spear-points: — ^rd. 
knives : — 4th. drills or awls : — and 5th. hoes. The 
arrow-heads are of various shapes, sizes and materials : 
white quartz points are the most common, and the most 
common shape is triangular. These quartz points vary 
in finish, from the very rudest to almost the very finest. 
Hornstone (a variety of hornblende) points come next in 
abundance. Most of the larger ones are of this material 
and of a variety of slate. The hornstone seems to have 
been a very refractory material, and it is wonderful that the 
savage workman should have been able to give it so fine a 
finish. Jasper, in various colors, appears to have been a 
favorite material, but points made of it are rare here. Out 
of the 350 points I have found in the last three years, only 
six are of jasper, — a large one, of an orange color, from 
Gulf Meadow, and five red and mottled ones, from the 
left bank of the river below Mr. William Hunt's, and a 



in Concord 17 



piece of land behind Mr. E. J. Bartlett's. Other materials 
are quartzite or granular quartz, and sand-stone, these 
latter, like the green slate points, being the most roughly 
finished of any. I have spoken of the points being of 
various shapes, they may however be divided into three 
general classes: — triangular, sometimes with and some- 
times without a stem ; lozenge or diamond shaped ; leaf 
shaped etc. 

Drills and awls for making holes in stone or leather are 
variously shaped chipped implements, from three-fourths 
of an inch to two inches or more in length, and about one- 
fourth inch in diameter, broadened at the base for 
attachment to a suitable handle. Like the arrow-points, 
these are made of various materials; flint, hornstone, jas- 
per, and even the soft argillite or slate are used, but quartz 
never. It would seem to be almost an endless task to 
drill a hole two inches deep, even in so soft a stone as 
slate, with no better tool than one of these rude points, 
yet with the help of water a hole one inch deep and three- 
eighths inch in diameter may be made in an hour and 
one half I have several specimens of these implements. 
One of them is remarkable on account of its size and the 
beauty of its finish; it was found in the Gulf Meadow 
district. Another is totally unlike it; it looks at first 
sight to be a rough triangular piece of light colored slate, 
but on closer examination will show evidence of its pur- 
pose, the sides of the point having been worn off by 
use. Other specimens here show no marked peculiarities. 
The Indians also used hollow reeds, for drilling stone; 
these were used with sand and water, cutting an annular 
hole, and leaving a core to be removed afterward. The 



Indian Relics 



modern diamond drills, used in mining and tunneling 
operations, work in precisely the same way. 

Chips, or flakes, detached from the stone in the process 
of making these chipped implements are frequently found, 
and would be likely to pass unnoticed by any but an expe- 
rienced collector. 

Mr. Albert E. Wood tells me that he once ploughed up 
a peck or more of them in one heap on his farm. Here 
was doubtless the site of a regular aboriginal manufactory, 
the ruins of one of the earliest of New England's great 
work shops, where centuries ago, 

**In the doorway of his wigwam, 
Sat the ancient arrow-maker. 
Making arrow-heads of jasper. 
Arrow-heads of chalcedony ; 
And by him, in all her beauty. 
Sat the lovely Minnehaha, 
Plaiting mats of flags and rushes." 

Another class of implements frequently found, comprises 
the Gouges, Chisels and Celts. These are generally made 
of a variety of slate, comparatively free from cleavage, and 
usually of a dark color, though sometimes the color is the 
effect of handling. The gouges are all sizes from two 
inches long and one inch wide, to eighteen inches long and 
four or more wide. No general description would cover 
the range of shapes that are found, so I will only describe 
a few specimens. A very pretty one, of about the medium 
size, found at Gulf Meadow, is of green slate, and very 
nicely polished : it has one peculiarity rarely seen, — a 
small knob on the back, probably to furnish a more secure 
hold. Another, from Bedford St., has a similar knob, but 
the implement itself is rather larger than those usually 



in Concord ip 



found here. It w:is dug from a peat meadow, and was 
several feet below the surface. 

The Society's collection has several fine gouges, some of 
them exhibiting peculiarities very rarely seen, and there are 
two or three excellent ones in the Public Library. Many 
of the specimens found here are very roughly finished 
except as to their cutting edges, which will in most cases 
be found to show great care in the finishing. 

Chisels or Celts are of the same range of sizes as the 
gouges. Several fine specimens have been found here, 
though not equal to those found in Ohio and other western 
and southern states. These tools were undoubtedly used 
in fashioning log canoes and other wooden vessels, the 
method being to char the wood by fire, and then dig the 
coal off with these sharpened stones. A prominent Ver- 
mont archasologist says that from the fact that many of 
these gouges and chisels show no marks of rough usage, 
he thinks they were used in dressing skins. 

Slate knives appear to have been quite scarce, though 
many fragments may be found by careful search. Doubt- 
less many were broken, on account of the extremely brittle 
nature of the slate, into irregular fragments that would soon 
lose, under the influence of the weather, all trace of their 
ever having been fashioned by hand of man. Mr. W. H. 
Hunt has a beautiful specimen; it is of black slate, about 
five inches long, and two wide at the widest part ; it has a 
back like a joiner's tenon saw, about one-half an inch wide 
and perhaps one-fourth inch thick, and perfectly straight ; 
close to this back the blade is about one-fifth inch thick 
and thins down regularly to the cutting edge, which is 
semicircular in shape. From the very nature of the mate- 
rial these knives could be whetted to a keen edge, and kept 



10 Indian Relics 

sharp until worn out. I have a specimen, found near Wig- 
wam Brook, of the same material as Mr. Hunt's and origi- 
nally a little larger than it ; it has evidently been broken 
and refinished, and has a peculiarity not exhibited by the 
other, the back being marked by deep cuts, perhaps to give 
a firmer hold, possibly as a mark of ownership, possibly 
for ornament. Without doubt the Indians used other 
things as knives, such as broken spear or arrow points, 
suitably hafted, or sharp fragments of stone. Abbott gives 
the name of knives to many of the perfect implements 
which we call arrow-points. 

Grooved stone axes are not at all common. I have 
hunted for relics a great deal during the past three years, 
and have found only one axe, and a very poor one at 
that. Once in a while one of these is found with a double 
groove, and Mr. Hunt has a beautiful specimen of this 
description. These axes vary greatly in size; I have seen 
them weighing as much as ten pounds, and as little as 
seven ounces, the usual size being from three to five 
pounds in weight. Some of them are beautifully finished 
and polished, and show carefully worked cutting edges. 
In Sudbury I have seen a slab of sandstone in which a 
long and deep channel has been worn by its use as a finish- 
ing or sharpening stone for these implements. Mr. 
Samuel Hartwell found on his farm one of the best stone 
axes I have seen from this neighborhood; it is finely 
polished, the groove is deep and the cutting edge carefully 
finished ; it is made from very hard stone, a porphyritic 
granite. There are quite a number of other good speci- 
mens in private collections, and in that of this Society. 

The use of the so-called plumb-bobs or sinkers is prob- 
lematical. The Indians were certainly not so far advanced 



in Concord 



in architectural skill as to require the plumb-line in their 
building, but the name of plumb-bobs has been given to 
these wrought stones, simply because in shape they 
resemble the plummet used by the modern house builder. 
Mr. Abbott, in his work on the Primitive Industry of the 
Indians, says, "I have for some time considered them as 
representing, according to size, material, shape, and finish, 
either, ist. Pestles, 2nd. Sinkers, 3rd. Spinning weights, or 
4th. Ornaments", I venture another hypothesis which 
seems to me more likely than any of these, and that is 
that they were used as bolas or throwing-stones, one 
attached to each end of a fine cord or sinew, or perhaps 
three or four of them, each tied to its own string and the 
free ends knotted together ; then the knot was taken in 
the hand, the bunch of stones was swung vigorously around 
the head, and the whole contrivance was sent skimming 
along at a duck or goose or heron ; if it hit, the string 
would wind around the bird, and if it did not kill, would 
at least prevent the bird from getting away. The street 
boys use a bunch of horse chestnuts in just that way to 
capture sparrows. It is confirmatory of this theory, that 
most of the broken plumb-bobs we find are fractured at 
the end opposite to where the string is attached, as if that 
end had received a violent blow. Some of the larger ones 
might have been used as pestles, but the smaller ones 
could not, and we must find a use for these. Sinkers 
would not need to be made symmetrical, as these all are, 
for any stone that a string could be tied to would sink a 
net. Throwing-stones, to be used as I have indicated, 
would have to be made as nearly symmetrical as possible, 
in order to secure accuracy of flight. These implements 
are shaped like a pear or peg top, and are quite uniform in 



21 Indian Relics 

size, generally with a groove for the attachment of a small 
string ; though some lack the groove. They are made of 
almost any kind of stone, though I have seen but one of 
quartz. From their shape and size they are likely to escape 
the attention of the careless, and so would seem to be 
somewhat scarce, but I have known of three specimens 
being found in one hour, though I myself have found but 
six in the last three years, and never more than one in a 
ciay. They are always found near the river, — a circum- 
stance that apparently gives some color to the sinker the- 
ory, though to my mind it is a still stronger confirmation 
of my own view, that they were used against the water- 
fowls. 

Stone pestles, or rollers, are not very common. They 
are usually made of slate, and vary from seven or eight to 
thirty or more inches in length, and from one to three 
inches in diameter and are quite surprisingly perfect cylin- 
ders in shape. The Antiquarian Society's collection con- 
tains several, which Mr. Davis called war-clubs, a view of 
the matter which is not shared by any scientific archaeolo- 
gist. It is quite certain that if you should grasp any one 
of these, as a policeman grasps his "billy", and strike a 
blow of ten pounds with it, it would break at once, for they 
are much more brittle than glass cylinders of the same 
size would be. The Indians of Colorado and the south- 
west still use the same tool, exactly identical, in shape, size 
and material, with these. There they remove the hull from 
the corn by soaking it in lye ; a process, by the way, that 
has survived here in New England, among ourselves, as a 
legacy from the Indians. The corn thus hulled and soft- 
ened, is rolled on a flat stone under one of these rollers, 
until it becomes a sort of pasty mass, which is then baked, 



in Concord 2^ 



like a griddle cake, on a hot stone, and eaten under the name 
of tortillas. The same pestle is also used to pound up 
dry corn into a coarse meal, using for a mortar, a hollow 
log, or a depression in a big stone. One of these latter 
kind of mortars now surmounts the rock-work erection in 
Concord's Play-Ground, Many of the pestles show proof 
that they have been used in this way, by the battered con- 
dition of their ends. It can not for a moment be doubted 
that these were implements of peace, and not of war. 
Probably the most valuable of these pestles now in Con- 
cord, is one in Colonel Barrett's collection. It was dug 
out of the sand bank near the R. R. Crossing in West 
Bedford, by Mr. Henry Wood. It is small and badly 
weathered, but the smaller end is carefully carved to repre- 
sent the head of some animal or bird. 1 have found but 
few speoimens of this implement, but I think they may 
have been more common in years past. 

Hammer-stones are round flattened pebbles, weighing 
from eight ounces to three or four pounds, and are usually 
simple beach stones in their natural condition, though 
sometimes we find a hollow pecked out in the flat faces, to 
give a firmer hold, and always the edges show evidence of 
the use to which they were put. Other hammers are 
grooved, for the attachment of a withe handle. The pitted 
and grooved forms are rare here, but are common in New 
Jersey. 

In very many collections may be found some specimens 
looking a little like a hatchet, and which inexperienced per- 
sons call tomahawks. It is not often that a perfect one is 
found, owing probably to water getting into the holes and 
freezing, and so splitting the stone. These implements, 
las all archoeologists agree, were in reality sceptres or insig- 



24 Indian Relics 

nia of office, and we now term them "banner-stones." 
They are plainly too light and too fragile ever to have 
been used as weapons, and were plainly not the dreaded 
tomahawk, this name belonging to the stone axes. These 
things are usually made of some soft and easily wrought 
stone, like slate or soapstone. I know of but six perfect 
specimens found in this locality ; halves and fragments are 
more common, but by no means plenty. 

The Indians .used cooking-pots and smaller vessels of 
soap-stone, but specimens of these are very rarely found, so 
rarely that I have never seen a specimen from this neigh- 
borhood. These vessels ranged in size from six to twenty 
inches in diameter, and from three to twelve inches in 
depth, and were usually furnished with two projections on 
opposite sides to serve as handles. Prof. Putnam has 
given a very clear description of the method of manufact- 
uring these pots. 

Among other relics found on the village sites, are small 
bits of soap-stone and roundish pieces of slate, sand-stone 
etc., drilled through the centre or near one edge. These 
are flat, and rarely more than two inches in diameter, and 
sometimes are ornamented with lines scratched on the sur- 
face, or with nicks in the edges. They were undoubtedly 
used as trinkets for personal adornment ; worn perhaps 
dangling from the nose or ears of some dusky belle, — a 
barbaric custom not wholly disused by more civilized 
maidens. They are by no means common ; in my own 
collection are three specimens. Another form or class of 
drilled stones are the gorgets or breast plates ; flat pieces 
of slate, about a quarter of an inch thick, two or three 
inches wide and five or six inches long, with two or more 
holes drilled through them, at about one-third their length 



in Concord 25 

from each end. They were more carefully finished than 
any of the other objects of which I have spoken. I know 
of no perfect specimen here. Doubtless these were also 
of an ornamental nature, or perhaps in the nature of mili- 
tary insignia, worn by the chiefs, fastened about the neck, 
and hanging in front of the throat, exactly as a similar 
gorget of brass or silver was worn by military officers a 
century or more ago, as is familiar to us all in the port- 
raits of some of our own officers in the revolutionary 
army. 

Pipes are very rarely found here, or elsewhere in Massa- 
chusetts, perhaps because our Indians, being obliged to get 
their tobacco by barter, from the more southern tribes, 
were not great smokers. I am inclined to think moreover 
that it was customary to bury a man's pipe with him, and 
if we ever do run across the graves of our old Indians, we 
shall find some of these. 

Besides the articles here spoken of, many relics will be 
found, the use or purpose of which it is hard to determine. 
I am constantly picking up specimens that at first sight 
appear not worth stooping for, but on bringing them home 
they often turn out to be very interesting and important 
when placed beside specimens previously acquired. 

In concluding this paper, I would venture to request 
members of this Society who have any Indian relics, to 
turn them over to its collection, or at least to take such 
care of them that they will not become scattered or lost or 
injured. A collection of ten or twenty or a hundred 
specimens does not amount to much in itself, but if all the 
small collections and scattered specimens now in the pos- 
session of individuals in this and adjoining towns could be 
gathered together, we should have a collection worth going 



26 Indian Relics in Concord 

miles to see, and one that would be of importance and 
value to archaeological students. At all events, if you 
have any such things, handle them as carefully as you 
would handle your best china tea-set, for they are fully as 
fragile, and once broken or destroyed, can never be 
replaced. The makers are dead, the factory is closed, no 
more are to be got except now and then a new find, more 
and more infrequent as the years go by. 

Frail memorials of the first Americans, they are to us 
worth more by far than the shrivelled mummies of Egypt, 
or the sculptured tablets of Nineveh, or the golden orna- 
ments unearthed by Schlieman from the ruins of ancient 
Troy. 



At . . . 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 

may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 
GUIDE BOOKS 

and books by 

CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 




Druggist. 


The Colonial, 




Monument Square, 


Huyler's Candies 


Concord, Massachusetts. 


Souvenir Postal Cards 






WILLIAM E. RAND, 


Photographs, etc. 


Proprietor. 


Concord, - Mass. 





Battle, April 19, 1775. 

QLD NORTH BRIDGE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages with conipttcnt guides to 
meet all cars on Monument Square, 
the centre of hII points ot historic 
interest: 

Carriages may be ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
lecting antiques with a local historv, T 
have instructed the guides the associa- 
tion of the points of interest, which 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Ant'tjue Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, Hass. 

J. W. CULL, Hanager. 



MGMANU8 BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 



Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, - Mass. 

Opposite Fitchburg Depot 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES 

SPORTING GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

RtiNTINQ, REPAIRING 

AND TEACHING 

When your Bicycle breaks down, 
vour Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

SHOP, MONUMtNT ST., Telephone 14=5 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telephone 28=4 



At 



A41SS BUCK'S 



MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite^the Bank. 



IffWO BOOKS 


by **nargaret Sidney." 1 


l^bld Concord : her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
wKm^ froni photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
I^K Bridgman. 8vo., cloth, |2.oo. 

I^K( "One of the choicest pouvenirsof the home and haunts of Emerson, 
I^E; Thoreau, JIawthorne, and the Alcotta." — Boston Globt. 

W^m.: " It is written (n a style as delightful nnd enticing as Stevenson's 
I^H^ 'Edinburgh' or Hare's 'Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 

I^^ittle Maid of Concord Town (A). A Romance of the 
l^p American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo., illustrated by 
IK Frank T. Merrill. I1.50. 

I^H^ Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 

I^K. about the famous North Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 

I^H; the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell just 

i ^R- such a story as young people like; a« the founder of the flourishing 

society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 

knowledge and inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 

the boys and girls of the famous village where was fired the shot 

heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 

romance that all Americans will enjoy. 


LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 








The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

are from 

Z\>c patriot prc00 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

The Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
I'he Erudite (monthly) 
Concordy A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 




Zbc tlown Of <roncor^ 

Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES 
AND DEATHS 

from the settlemei\t of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for $iy each. 32 cents for 
postage, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



"GRAVES AND WORMS 
AND EPITAPHS." 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN. 




^ RECEIVED "j> 

MAR 9-1904 




«*A truly great historical novel." — Omaha World-Herald. 

THE COLONIALS 

Mr. French, a native of Concord, Mass., has written a stirring romance 
of Boston at the time of the Tea Party — the Siege. Five editions in the first 
few weeks testify to the public's appreciation. The Brooklyn Eagle says : 
" It is seldom that we arc favored with so strong, so symmet- 
rical, so virile a work ... a work of romantic fiction of 
an order of merit so superior to the common run that it may 
fairly be called great." 

Price ^iM Colonial Decorations $1.50 

The Furnitore of Oar Forefathers 

By KSTirEIR SINCS^UBTTONr 

The most complete work on this fascinating subject. Half vellum, with 
about looo pages, illustrated by 24 photogravures, 128 full page half-tones, and 
300 drawings, from the most famous pieces from all parts of the country, a 
number of which arc in the possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society. 

Two superb volumes $20 net* Write for prospectus. 

D0U8LEDAY, PAGE & CO., 34 UNION SQUARE, N.Y. 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

House on Lexington Road 

Containing a Urge collection of 

LOCAL HISTORICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RELICS, CHIN; 
ANTIQUE FURNITURE, ETC. 

is open every afternoon from May i to November i 

at which times the Secretary will be 

in attendance 

Admission 25 Cents 



ERASTUS H. SMITH 

Auctioneer, Real Estate 
Agent, Notary Public. 

Hey wood's Block, Main Street, 

Concord, Mass. 

Kodak Supplies, Cameras, etc. 

Negatives developed and prints made. 

Special out-door photographs taken 
to order. 

7elepho)ic Connection. 



HOSMER FARM 

Horses Boarded Summer 
and Winter. 

Excellent Pasturage. 
The best of care. 
References given if desired. 

GEORGE M. BAKER 
Proprietor. 
Concord, Mass. 

OfF Elm Street. 



The Letters of 

HUGH, EARL PERCY, 

from Boston and New York 
1 747- 1 776. 

Edited by 

Charles Knowles Bolton. 

In one volume, small quarto, with 
portrait of Percy specially etched by 
Sidney S. Smith for this book. Net 
$4.00. 

CHARLES E. GOODSPEED, 

Publisher 
5a Park Street, Boston. 

H. L. WHITGOMB 

Newsdealer. 

Books, Stationery of all kinds. 

Fancy Crockery, Photographs, 
Wall Paper, Confectionery. 

Fancy Goods, Guide Books, 

Eastman Kodaks and Supplies, 
Souvenir Mailing Cards. 

Brown's Famous Pictures, 

Agent for Steamship Lines, 

Laundry Agency. 



Pictures of Concord's Places 
of Interest. 

Guide Books. Postal Cards. 
Thoreau Penholders, 15c. 

Made from wood grown on the old 
Thoreau place. 

A very few genuine Thoreau 
Pencils, 25c each. 

Stamped J. Thoreau & Son. 

For sale by 

H.S.RICHARDSON 

PHARMACIST 
Concord, - Mass. 

N. B. We draw the Finest Soda 
in town. 



Built in 1747 

The Wright 
Tavern. 



One of the few Historic Buildings 
now standing in Old Concord. 

Centrally located at corner of Lex- 
ington Road and Monument Square. 

Good service at moderate prices. 

Public Telephone Station. 

J. J. BUSCH, Proprietor. 



HORACE TUTTLEX SON 

Hack, Livery and 
Boarding Stable 

WALDEN St. opp. HUBBARD St. 
Concord, Mass. 



Carriages meet all trains at R. R. 
Stations, and the Electrics at the Pub- 
lic Square. 

Barges, with experienced Guides, 
furnished for large parties, or may be 
engaged in advance by mail or tele- 
phone. 



Concord 

Souvenir 

Spoons. 

Minuteman 

Stick Pins. 

MOLLIS S. HOWE, 

Watchmaker and Jeweler. 
Main St., Concord, Mass. 



"GRAVES AND WORMS 
AND EPITAPHS" 



READ BEFORE THE 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 



BY GEORGE TOLMAN 



Published by the Concord Antiquarian Society 



CONCORD ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

Established September, 1886. 

Executive Committee for 1901-02. 



THE HON. JOHN S. KEYES . . . PresidetU. 
SAMUEL HOAR, ESQ. 



THE REV. LOREN B. MACDONALD ' ''"' ^--•'^-^^• 

THOMAS TODD Treasurer. 

GEORGE TOLMAN Secretary. 

ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



Publication Committee 

THE RhV. LOREN B. MACDONALD 
ALLEN FRENCH 

EDWARD W. EMERSON, M. D. 



House on Lexington Road. 



PATRIOT PRESS, CONCORD. 



"Graves and Worms and 
Epitaphs." 



T^O the zealous antiquary, and especially to the genealo- 
* gist, who is so often obliged to "seek the living among 
the dead," the most interesting spots in all our older towns 
are those wherein 

Each in his narrow cell forever laid 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep, 

whose tottering and moss-covered grave-stones, from which 
"Time's effacing fingers" are slowly and surely wiping away 
the tributes thereon graven by the hand of affection, and 
even the names and stations of those whom Love and Grief 
had so hopelessly hoped to commemorate, are now but the 
mute reminders to us that "to this complexion must we 
come at last," and lie "the world forgetting, by the world 
forgot," except as some mousing antiquary or some inquir- 
ing genealogist shall perchance scrape away the moss of 
years from our monumental headstones and find thereon 
only a missing link in a genealogy. 

After all, that is the principal use of a gravestone. The 
world is for the living, and after the dead past has buried 
its dead, it is only the antiquary, who, when a few genera- 
tions more have passed away, knows or cares much about 
their resting places. Each one of us had eight great-great- 



4 Graves and Worms 

grandfathers, and as many great-great-grandmothers, but it 
would puzzle any one of us to find the graves of the 
whole sixteen, and when we had found them they would 
hardly affect us with any other emotion than that ot 
a gratified curiosity. We do well to leave money to 
the Town to take care of our cemetery lots after we 
shall have come into our eternal tenancy of the ground, for 
we may be very sure that our descendants in the coming 
centuries will be too busy living to waste much time or 
money in furbishing up our old tombstones, and if we are 
really anxious for such measure of immortality as a tomb- 
stone can confer, it is only prudent to make a business 
matter of it while there is yet time, and make it worth 
some one's while to do, for money, what nobody else will 
be likely to do, for sentiment. 

In the two oldest burying grounds of Concord, in both 
of which interments virtually ceased more than sixty years 
ago, there are now only about 700 grave-stones, of course 
commemorating but a fraction of those who died here. In 
fact, for more than forty years after the settlement of the 
Town, no grave-stone was erected, or if there were any 
they have long ago vanished. In those early days such 
things were expensive, being all imported from England 
and not easily obtained by the pioneers who were located 
away out here in the wilderness. These earliest monu- 
ments are short and chunky in shape, and of a fine dense 
Welsh state that weathers well, and it is to these qualities 
that their long preservation is due. Later stones are of 
native slate, of a brittle quality, and liable to split or ex- 
foliate so as in some cases to destroy the inscriptions. 
They were also made much larger, but also much thinner 
than the Welsh and so were liable to be broken off near 






and Epitaphs r 

the ground. Some of these broken ones have been 
restored by the simple process of sticking tlie end into the 
ground, and covering up a part of the inscription, but most 
of them have either been further broken into pieces where 
they lay, or have been carried away for baser uses. I^ven 
whole unmutilated stones have been so carried away. One 
was turned up only a few years ago at "the Wayside," 
where it was doing duty as the cover to a cess-pool. Of 
course no one knows now where it belongs, and as far as 
poor Mrs. Dorothy Putnam, whose name it bears, is con- 
cerned, or as far as her bereaved relatives apparently know 
or care, she might as well have gone without a gravestone 
in the first instance. She died only about seventy years 
ago. Even those who have had official care of burial 
grounds have not scrupled to destroy or to remove or to 
misuse the monuments of the dead : for gravestones have 
been taken from their places and used to block the door- 
ways of some of the old tombs ; the flat stone at the gate 
of the Hill burying ground once marked the last resting 
place of one of Concord's most honored citizens ; and I 
very well remember when a former sexton and funeral 
undertaker carried away two fine large gravestones to cover 
his well withal. In the year 1872, being impressed by the 
fact that so many of these stones had disappeared even 
during my own time, I made careful manuscript copies of 
the inscriptions on such as then remained, and these copies 
are now preserved in the Public Library. Since they were 
made, several more of the old stones have been broken 
down or removed, and the manuscript copies are now the 
only evidence that the stones themselves ever existed. 
Doubtless, however, those that have from time to time 
been lost were of the later, or thin slate period, and the 



Graves and Worms 



chunky little block with its rudely cut inscription that 
marks the grave of Joseph Meriam, (the second of that 
name) who died in 1677 aged 47 years, was the first grave- 
stone erected here ; at any rate it is the oldest one now 
standing, and Lemuel Shattuck, writing almost seventy 
years ago, had heard of none older. This is in the Hill 
burying ground ; the oldest stone in the Main-street ground 
is that of Thomas Hartshorn who died in 1693 aged 14 
years, though within the last fifteen years a stone has been 
set up in this ground in memory of Nathaniel Billing who 
died in 1673, ^"^ ^^^ probably buried there. 

Mr. Shattuck in the History of Concord says that "tradi- 
tion reports that the ground first used for interring the dead 
was on the hill east of the present one." I never heard of 
that tradition outside of the pages of Shattuck. Certainly 
the spot designated has been ploughed over and cultivated 
times without number, and a large part of the hill has been 
dug away and carted off, and not so much as a bone has 
been found there, so we may fairly dismiss that tradition as 
quite without foundation. A careful examination of the 
old records has convinced me that the burying-ground, 
after the old English custom, was the church-yard, the 
ground immediately surrounding the meeting-house, and 
that the fee of the land was, also according to the old Eng- 
lish law, vested in the minister, the Rev. Peter Bulkeley. 
In 1663 his widow and executrix sold all his lands in the 
centre of the town to Timothy and George Wheeler, who 
divided them between themselves, so that, when George 
Wheeler in 1673 handed in to the Town Clerk a descrip- 
tion of the lands owned by him, we find him claiming title 
to a lot of about nine acres, in which was included the ter- 
li'ory now bounded by a straight line running over the hill. 



and Epitaphs -7 

as the walls and fences still stand, from the corner of Mile 
B. Stearns' house lot to Bedford Street, then on Bedford 
Street and Court Lane to Monument Street, then on Mon- 
ument and Lexington Streets to the point of beginning. 
The meeting-house on the hill had by that time been 
deserted, and a new one had been built on the other 
side of the highway, and this claim of George Wheeler's 
covered the ground the old meeting-house had occu- 
pied, as well as the burying ground. In 1678 we find 
this entire lot of land in the possession of Thomas Pellet, 
who, dying in 1694, devised it to his son Samuel. Three 
years later Samuel Pellet conveyed it to his brother Daniel, 
who, in his turn sold it to josiah Blood in 1706. All 
these conveyances transfer the title to the entire tract of 
land, by warranty deeds, and entirely omit any allusion to 
the use of any part of the same as a burying ground ; and 
it appears to have been as late as the year 17 10 before the 
Town took any measures to assert its own title to so much 
of the land as was actually used for burial purposes, and it 
was not until seven years later than that, that the matter 
was at length settled, and the Town came into the undis- 
puted possession of "the Hill burying ground." 

Dr. Lee, of Washington, who wrote a Genealogy of the 
Lee Family, speaks of the Main Street burying ground as 
"the Smedley burying ground," a name which it never bore 
in Concord, and which 1 think nobody here ever heard of 
until he so christened it, though it is, I think, the fact that 
James Smedley's house-lot bounded upon it in 1673. ^^ 
the lot was once a portion of Smedley's holding, and if it 
was conveyed by him to the Town, such conveyance was 
not made a matter ot record. Mr. Bartlett, in the Concorti 
Guide Book, mentions a tradition that this piece of ground 



Graves and fVorms 



was given to the Town, for burial purposes, "by two 
maiden ladies." Now this is something like. True, the 
maidens are not identified in any way, but we know there 
have always been more or less maiden ladies in the neigh- 
borhood, and it is really quite a stimulus to the imagination 
to try to pick out these early two, calling for "living men" 
to "come view the ground." We must, however, for lack 
of further evidence, allow these shadowy maidens to take 
the same apocryphal place to which we have had to assign 
Smedley. 

Somebody, I know not who, in a recent Directory of 
Concord, speaks of this Main street lot as "one of the 
seven oldest burial places in New England," implying 
therefore that It is the oldest one in Concord, since no 
such claim is made for the Hill ground. This brings us 
to still another tradition, which is, in brief, that the origi- 
nal settlers of Concord, the men who came here with Peter 
Bulkeley, laid out this ground as a burial place for them- 
selves and their families, and carefully excluded therefrom 
those who came later, who were obliged to make a resting 
place for themselves upon the hill near the meeting house. 
Now, there were, or at least are, no gravestones in either 
yard earlier than 1677, and every gravestone now standing 
bearing an earlier date than 1713, with one exception only, 
Is in the Hill ground. The theory of this tradition being 
good, we should expect to find that the oldest monuments 
of the original families are in the Main street ground, for 
they would hardly have shifted to the other just at the 
very time they began to mark the graves. We should, 
also, not expect to find here the monuments of the newer 
families, but should look for them upon the hill. We 
know the names of most of Peter Bulkeley's companions 



and Epitaphs g 

and parishioners. Humplirey Barrett was one, ami all the 
oldest Barrett gravestones are in the Main street ground. 
All of Hayward and Buss and Miles and Potter and Strat- 
ton are also to be fountl there. But Buttrick antl l^'Jetcher 
and P'lint and Heald and Hunt are names as old in Con- 
cord as any of these, and not a gravestone to any one of 
them is to he found outside of the Hill ground. The 
oldest Hartwell stones and the oldest Hosmers, all of the 
Bloods and all ot the third generation of Wheelers are 
found ujion the hill. The first Robert Meriam, antl all 
the descendants of his brother the first Joseph are buried 
on the hill, but the son and grandson of their brother the 
first George are buried in the Main street ground. Of 
later comers, Dakin and Jones who came in 1650, Davis 
who got here in 1659, J^rescott in 1675, Hubbard in 1680, 
Conant in 1712, all succeeded in getting buried in the 
exclusive precincts of the Main street ground aiul hardly 
a gravestone to any one of these names is to be found 
elsewhere. Brooks and Wheat who came in 1638, Stow 
and Ball about 1640, Heywood and Temple and Taylor in 
1650, Chandler and Clark and Minot and Melvin wlio 
came here later in the 17th century, are rigidly confined to 
the hill, and not one of any of these names is to be found 
in the other ground. I think, considering these things, 
that the "original settlers" theory will not work, and that 
no claim of the Main street burying ground to be "one of 
seven" can be maintained. The probability, 1 think, is 
rather that the Hill was the older place of burial. It was 
close to the meeting-house, and our puritan ancestors had 
not yet grown out of the English custom of interring their 
dead in the church-yard; fourteen out of the fifteen oldes: 
stones are there, and the fifteenth, (in the Main stre ■; 



lo Graves and Worms 

yard,) curiously enough, marks the grave of a child of a 
man who did not get into Concord until after 1690; and 
m.ore than two thirds of all the monuments bearing the 
family names of the original proprietors of Concord are to 
be found inside its enclosure. 

Since Concord's dead for the first two centuries of her 
municipal existence are commemorated by only 713 monu- 
mental inscriptions, it is evident that the great majority of 
her decedents "died and made no sign," and although on 
the most of these monuments, — 

Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered Muse, 

The place of fame and elegy supply, — 
While many a holy text around she strews. 

That teach the rustic moralist to die, — 

there are still, I think, an unusual number of epitaphs, 
properly so-called ; that is, very many that were specially 
written to describe the characters or to testify to the virtues 
of their subjects. The holy texts that the unlettered 
Muse has strewn around, are often repeated either in the 
very words of Scripture, or paraphrased into the uncouth 
rhymes by which that goddess of tombstone literature 
establishes her right to Gray's qualifying adjective. Occa- 
sionally we meet with St. Paul's triumphant ejaculation — 
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, 
I have kept the faith," — or his consoling promise that 
"Them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." 
Sometimes we are reminded that "We have here no con- 
tinuing city," or by the grave of some good matron we are 
called upon to remember that "Her price is far above 
rubies." Over the last resting place of some promising 
' outh we are led to reflect that "He cometh forth like a 



and Epitaphs i i 



flower and is cur down; lie llcetli also as a shad>Vv\ and 
contiiuietli not," or upon the tombstone ot' an infant we 
read again the tender words "Of such is the kingdom of 
heaven." The comforting words of the Psalmist "Precious 
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints," or the 
still more confident assurance of the Spirit "Blessed are 
the dead that die in the Lord, tor they rest from their 
labours and their works do follow them" express the faith 
and hope of many a mourning family. But the favorite 
text, the one oftenest quoted and, as it were, insisted upon 
is "Though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in 
my flesh shall 1 see God." Tiie unlettered Muse has 
rendered this in rhyme in a dozen or more forms, such as, 
for instance : — 

Tho' greedy worms devour my skin 

And gnaw my wasting flesh. 
When God shall build my bones again 

He'll clothe them all afresh. 

or : — 

Corruption earth and worms 
Shall but refine my flesh. 
Till my triumphant spirit comes 
To put it on afresh. 
or : — 

God, my redeemer lives. 

And often from the skies 
Looks down and watches all my dust. 

Till He shall bid it rise. 

In one instance the sculptor has put it "-matches all my 
dust," which causes one to wonder what meaning he 
attached to the verse, and faintly to suspect that his early 
instruction in matters of doctrine had been neglected or 



12 Graves and Worms 

forgotten. These verses, and others conveying the same 
idea, are repeated over and over again, as if our fathers, in 
view of death, found Job a more hopeful comforter than 
Paul, and discovered their greatest consolation, not so 
much in the hope of a spiritual immortality, as in that of 
the literal physical resurrection such as they used to depict 
in the ludicrous woodcuts familiar to many of us in our 
younger days. They had not suspected that one day 
some revised versioners would turn up, and bring Job and 
Paul a good deal nearer together as to this point of faith. 
Of course in our old burying grounds the stock verses 
of tombstone literature are by no means absent. They 
can be found in every grave-yard in English-speaking 
countries, and these works of the unlettered Muse have 
come to rank almost along with those inspired by any one 
of the original Nine patronesses of literature and art. We 
are informed in many cases, that 

Affliction sore long time I bore, 

Physicians were in vain. 
Till God did please and death did seize 

To ease me of my pain, 

and we remember young David Copperfield's musings 
over the same memorial to the late Mr. Bodgers in Blun- 
derstone church, and his doubts as to whether it might 
not be rather unpleasant to the village doctor to have 
public attention thus constantly called to his own failure to 
relieve Mr. Bodgers in his last illness ; or we are warned 
to 

Hark from the tomb a doleful sound, 
Mine ears attend the cry. 

Ye living men come view the ground 
Where you must shortly lie. 



arid Epitaphs i 3 

a verse which sounds somehow Hke the public advertise- 
ment of some enterprising dealer in unimproveti real 
estate, advising one to come early and look over wliat he 
has to offer in the line of post mortem building lots. We 
are admonished many times in our ramble among the 
graves, to 

Halt, traveller, as you pass by ; 
As you are now so once was I, 
As I am now you soon must he. 
Prepare for death and follow me. 

or we are informed that 

Death is a debt to nature due. 
Which I have paid, and so must you, 

a consoling reflection to some of vis poor sinners, that 
when this final debt at last matures, we shall not have to 
ask a renewal or to come down on our endorsers. 

But the most popular verse of all, perhaps because it 
will fit "all sorts and conditions of men," or perhaps 
because, being only two lines, it came cheaper in the cut- 
ting than a four line stanza, when the mourners felt that 
there was a certain incompleteness about an inscription 
that had no poetry in it, is 

Retire my friends, dry up your tears. 
Here I must lie till Christ appears, 

varied sometimes to suit the circumstances of the indivi- 
dual, as in the case of little Charlotty Ball, who gravely 
sings — "My dady and my mamy dears, dry up your 
tears." 

Ridiculous epitaphs, such as we sometimes see quoted 
in the newspapers, (and generally, like patent medicine 



Graves and Worms 



certificates, located very indefinitely, or in such inaccessible 
places that they cannot be verified), are absent, not only 
here, but in every burying ground that I have ever visited, 
though there are several that provoke a smile by the 
quaintness of their phraseology : — thus, Mary Hartwell, 
who died in 1774 at the age of eighty-one years, reminds 
us that "The life of man is but a span, so frail a thing is 
man etc.," the etc., being a part of the inscription ; Lieu- 
tenant Francis Wheeler is said to have "departed this 
life very suddent and unexpected": of little Mary Brooks, 
who died in 1736 at the age of eleven years, it is stated 
that "She was very excellent for reading and soberness." 
Of Mr. Job Brooks, who was ninety-one years old when 
he died in 1788, the epitaphist says, with perhaps an excess 
of caution, as if he did not quite venture to make the 
statement on his own responsibility, that "He was con- 
sidered by survivors as coming to the grave in a full age," 
while of his equally aged wife, who died two years earlier, 
we are told that "After having lived with her said husband 
upwards of sixty-five years, she died in the hope of a 
resurrection to a better life." Over the grave of Ephraim 
Meriam, who died in 1803, is inscribed : — 

Now I am dead and in my grave 

And all my bones are rotten. 
When this you see, remember me. 

Let me not be forgotten, — 

and when you have seen a bevy of Wellesley College girls 
line up before this stone, and have heard them sing this 
touching appeal, to the tune of Yankee Doodle, you may 
be sure that that appeal will not fail of its effect, and that 
Mr. Meriam's epitaph at least will not be forgotten. 
Mr. Archibald Smith's monument sets forth that : — 



and Epitaphs i r 

The just shall, from their mouldering ilu.st. 

Ascend the mansions ot the blest. 

Where Paul and Silas and John the Baptist 

And all the saints forever rest : — 

Mr. Smith was a Baptist, and the delicacy with which 
the unlettered Muse conveys this fact is only surpassed by 
the poetical felicity with which she rhymes dust and Bap- 
tist. "My glass is run" is a favorite motto on many a 
stone: on that of Nehemiah Hunt some ingenious hut not 
over reverent boy changed the final n to ?«, by a skilful 
use of his jack knife, and handed the old gentleman down 
to posterity as one whose glass was rum. Tilly Merrick 
Esq. who died in 1768, aged 39, is described as having 
"had an excellent art in family government," a secret which 
1 think he must have carried to the grave with him, and 
which has now become one of the lost arts. Perhaps he 
learned it from his neighbor Capt. Jonathan Buttrick, who 
died a year earlier, and who, we are told, "was followed to 
his grave by his aged widow and 13 well instructed child- 
ren," and who must have been fully qualified by experience 
to teach the "excellent art of fiimily government" to 
younger men. 

Occasionally we run across a name that attracts us by its 
singularity, some patronymic quite unfamiliar to our ears, 
and we are almost surprised to find that persons bearing 
those names ever lived in Concord. Hannah Cocksedge 
for instance, — a family name that I have been unable to 
find on the probate records of any Massachusetts county : 
I am inclined, however, to connect her with William 
Cooksey who was for many years the only town pauper and 
who died about the same time that she did. Cord Cordis 
is a name that strikes curiously upon the ear, and almost 



Graves and Worms 



compels one to carry out the paradigm for^'/ — cordem — 
cord — corde. Isaac Biscon, the Huguenot barber, who got 
into a httle trouble with his exiled compatriots at Boston, 
is a name that the antiquary will at once notice. Nicholas 
Shevally and his son John find their original French name 
of Chevalier transformed into a dozen different and uncouth 
forms on our Town records, none of which however are so 
grotesque as that by which they would never recognize 
themselves on their gravestones, where their knightly pat- 
ronymic is most laboriously misspelt S h o w u a 1 1 e y by 
the Yankee stone cutter. Here is the grave of Richard 
Kaets the Boston bricklayer, who came to Concord in his 
old age, and bought the farm of his old Boston neighbor 
Peregrine White who had tired of country life. Kaets died 
in 1718, and left 6^ to the church in Concord to buy a 
silver cup for the communion service. 

The Rev. Peter Bulkeley was the Moses of our Israel 
here in the wilderness, and like that other Moses, "no man 
knoweth the place of his sepvdchre unto this day." The 
graves of his son and successor, the Rev. Edward Bulke- 
ley, and of Edward Bulkeley's sometime colleague and 
later successor, the Rev. Joseph Estabrook are not only 
unmarked but unknown. Tradition has it that all three of 
these early ministers were buried in the same tomb^ and that 
it was in the burying ground on Main Street. A careful 
exploration of the ground, with some little digging in likely 
spots, — indeed in the only spots large enough to contain a 
tomb of any kind — was made by myself and Mr. Farrar 
a few years ago. \{ by a "tomb" is meant a structure of 
brick or stone, either above or below the surface of the 
ground, then I can say confidently that there is no such 
thing there. But if Doctor Ripley, in helping to perpet- 



and EpitapJis i n 

uate the tradition, used the word tomb as meaning merely a 
grave, just a hole in the ground, it would he quite useless 
now to make ' any further search whatever, among the 
numerous unmarked and unidentified graves in that spot. 
The fourth minister, the Rev. John Whiting, whose 
incumbency terminated unpleasantly, is buried near the 
resting place assigned by tradition to his three predecessors. 
He is described on his monument as "a gentleman of sin- 
gular hospitality and generosity, who never detracted from 
the character of any man, and was a universal lover of 
mankind," and so we will imitate that rare and beautiful 
quality in him, and let the detractions from which he suf- 
fered during the latest years of his life remain forgotten. 
His successor, the Rev. Daniel Bliss, is buried under an 
altar tomb near the crown of the hill. His epitaph was 
undoubtedly written by his son in law the Rev. William 
Emerson, who was the next pastor of the Church in Con- 
cord. This ephitaph, though long, is so admirable a tribute 
to Mr. Bliss's character, and to his powers as a pulpit 
orator, that it will bear quoting in full, as follows : — 

Of this beloved disciple and minister of Jesus Christ 
'tis justly observable that in addition to his natural and 
acquired abilities, he was distinguishedly favored with those 
eminent graces of the Holy Spirit, (meekness, humility 
and zeal) which rendered him particularly fit for, and 
enabled him to go through with, the work of the gospel 
ministry, upon which he entered in the twenty-fifth year of 
his age. The duties of the various characters he sustained 
in life were performed with great strictness and fidelity. 
As a private Christian he was a bright example of holiness 
in life and purity in conversation. But in the execution of 
the ministerial office he shone with peculiar lustre : a spirit 
of devotion animated all his performances : his doctrine 



1 8 Graves and Worms 

dropped as the rain and his lips distilled like the dew : his 
preaching was powerful and searching, and He who blessed 
him with an uncommon talent in a particular application to 
the consciences of men crowned his skilful endeavors with 
great success. As the work of the ministry was his great 
delight so he continued fervent and diligent in the perfor- 
mance of it till his divine Lord called him from his service 
on earth to the glorious recompense of reward in heaven, 
where, as one who has turned many to righteousness, he 
shines as a star forever and ever. 

His soul was of the angelic frame ; 

The same ingredients and the mould the same, 

When the Creator makes a minister of flame. 

Mr. Shattuck quotes this epitaph in extenso in his History 
of Concord, but turns the last line of the poetical citation 
from Dr. Watts into '■^whom the Creator makes a minister 
o{ fame" which is utter nonsense of course, and shows that 
Mr. Shattuck had no conception of the meaning of the 
verse. 

Close by the grave of Mr. Bliss is a memorial tablet to 
the memory of the Rev. William Emerson, ( whose body 
lies elsewhere ) bearing this epitaph : — "Erected by this 
Town in memory of their pastor, Rev. William Emerson, 
who died at Rutland Vermont, 1776, aged 2)^y o" ^'^ 
return from the American army, of which he was a chaplain. 
Enthusiastic, eloquent, affectionate, and pious, he loved his 
family, his people, his God, and his country, and to this 
last he yielded the cheerful sacrifice of his life." The Rev. 
Ezra Ripley, who succeeded Mr. Emerson in his pulpit, 
and indeed in nearly all of his public duties and private 
relations as well, was entombed in one of the row of tombs 
nearest the Catholic church, and though he fully deserved 
an epitaph as long as Daniel Bliss's, no one has ever been 



and Epitaphs 



^9 



found to write it, and the single word "Ripley" over the 

entnince to the tomb, 

"The place of fame and epitaph supplies." 

The first of the "Town Donations" for the benefit of 
the poor, was the gift of Peter Wright, who died in 1718, 
and whose grave on the hill is marked by a simple stone 
bearing only his name and age, and the date of his death. 
Hugh Cargill, who died in 1799, and who gave to the 
Town the present "poor farm" is commemorated by an 
epitaph setting forth that "he was born in Ballyshannon in 
Ireland; came into this country in the year 1774, destitute 
of the comforts of life ; but by his industry and good econ- 
omy he acquired a good estate, and having no children, he, 
at his death devised his estate to his wife, and to a number 
of friends and relations by marriage, and especially a large 
and generous donation to the Town of Concord for ben- 
evolent and charitable purposes," — certainly an encourag- 
ing object lesson on the virtues of "industry and good 
economy" to the thousands of his compatriots who have 
"come into this country" in a similar destitute condition, 
and one which it is a pleasure to see so many of them try- 
ing to put into practice. In our Town Reports, every 
spring, we read of certain moneys coming to the poor and 
to the schools from the income of the Cuming and Beaton 
friends, left by John Cuming, a physician of whom it is 
traditionally reported that he would not accept a fee for 
any service done to the sick on Sundays, and John Beaton, 
a trader of such scrupulous honesty that his name became 
the local standard for uprightness. Dr. Cuming was a 
soldier as well as a physician, and was a Colonel in the 
army of the Revolution. Of him, the epitaphist says : — 



Graves and Worms 



"Naturally active as to genius and disposition, he early 
appeared on the stage of life where he conducted with spirit 
and despatch, and acquired honour in different stations. 
As a physician he was beloved, useful, and celebrated. 
His compassion for the distressed hastened him to their 
relief and his hand was as charitable as healing to the poor. 
And as a Magistrate he magnified his office, nor held the 
sword of Justice in vain. Constitutionally particular, ani- 
mated and warm in his disposition and temper, earnestness 
and zeal, affection and precision, were his characteristics. 
Hence, from his youth, in conversation he was cheerful 
and affable ; in civil business prompt, and expeditious ; in 
private and public worship, punctual and fervent; in 
charity, liberal; in piety, devout. His learning, dignity 
and donations procured him an honorary degree at Har- 
vard College. To that society, for the support of a pro- 
fessor of physic, and to the church and town of Concord, for 
public charitable and religious purposes he made generous 
donations in his last will." 

Of "Honest John Beaton" we learn that : — 

"This worthy man was born in Scotland, but had lived 
a number of years in this town, where he acquired a large 
estate and professed a reputation remarkably fair and 
unspotted. He was a serious, meek, devout Christian, 
and breathed the spirit of the religion which he pro- 
fessed. His dealings were so just and punctual, his friend- 
ship so true, his conversation so inoffensive and sincere, 
and the discharge of his public offices so upright and faith- 
ful, that he attracted from all who knew him an uncommon 
share of confidence and esteem. His obliging acts to his 
friends, his bounties to many, his benefactions to the minis- 
try of that gospel which he loved, his charities to the poor 
and the bequests of his last will to them and to the public 
uses, evidence that in him strict justice was united with 
great benevolence and generosity. With as little appear- 
ance as circumstances would allow, he did great good." 



and Kpilaphs 



11 



Both these epitaphs show unmistakably the hand of 
Dr. Ripley. We need to know nothing more of these two 
men: whole volumes of eulogy could not tell us more, and 
Concord does well to hold in perpetual memory the names 
of men whose characters could he thus delineated hy such 
a hand. 

Colonel James Barrett, always to be held in honored 
remembrance in Concord, is described as having been "In 
public and private life courteous, benevolent and charita- 
ble. His fidelity, uprightness and ability in various offices 
and employments justly procured him esteem. He early 
stept forward in the contest with Britain and distinguished 
himself in the cause of America. His warm attachment to 
and careful practice of the religion of Christ completed his 
worthy character and with his other virtues will preserve 
his memory." Of his son Colonel Nathan Barrett, who 
was at the Old North Bridge on the 19th of April 1775, 
and did good service later in the war, we are told that 
"His amiable disposition endeared him to his family and 
acquaintance ; his usefulness in society gained him esteem ; 
and his attention to religion inspired the hope of the 
gospel." The epitaph of Major John Buttrick, from whose 
lips the all-irrevocable order sprang, "For God's sake, fire." 
is one of the most perfect monumental inscriptions I have 
ever read, and it is said to have been written by Governor 
Sullivan, Major Buttrick's intimate friend and fellow officer 
at a later period of the war : — 

"In memory of Col. John Buttrick, who commanded 
the militia companies which made the first attack upon the 
British troops at Concord North Bridge on the 19th of 
April 1775. Having with patriotic firmness shared in the 
dangers which led to American Independence, he lived to 



22 Graves and Worms 

enjoy the blessings of it, and died May i6, 1791, aged 
sixty years. Having laid down the sword with honor, he 
resumed the plough with industry, by the latter to maintain 
what the former had won. The virtues of the patriot, 
citizen and christian adorned his life, and his worth was 
acknowledged by the grief and respect of all ranks at his 
death." 

Of his son John, who, as a boy of fifteen years old, took 
his "baptism of fire" at the North Bridge, as a fifer in one 
of the companies of minute-men, we read that "he early im- 
bibed the spirit of liberty and patriotism and was honorably 
promoted," and that "Happy in his family, useful in 
society and submissive in sickness, he resigned his life in the 
Christian's faith and hope." Another of our 19th of April 
heroes was John Hosmer, whose granite monument, in the 
Main street burial ground, declares that "Although in arms 
at the battle of Concord, and a soldier in the continental 
army, he was, all his life after, a man of peace." It is to 
be regretted that the original epitaph prepared for his 
monument by Ralph Waldo Emerson should have been 
replaced by this rather bald statement, and It is to be hoped 
that some day Mr. Hosmer will get what Is due him. 
Mr. Emerson wrote ; — 

Here lies the body of 
JOHN HOSMER 
who was born 6 July 1752, and died 16 Feb. 1836. 
A lover of his own independence, 
he respected always the freedom of others. 
And that of his own children. 
An industrious and skilful mechanic, 
he was both willing and able to help himself. 
A liberal spender of his own earnings, 
he never coveted those of other men. 



and Epitaphs 



23 



Although he was in arms at the Battle of Concord 
and a soldier of the Continental Army, 
and one ot the conquerors of Burgovne, 
he was in all his life after, a man of peace. 
And had never a private enemy. 

Here lies also the body 

of his wife Mary 

born 12 March 1755, died 1 7 June 1814, 

daughter of Dr. Jonathan Prescott of Halifax N. S. 
And a descendant of Peter Bulkeley 
the first minister of this town. 
A prudent and faithful wife and mother, 
She aided her husband 
by her affection and economy, 
and shared with him the love and veneration 
of ten children. 



A humbler hero was Thomas Hunt, who died in 1805, 
at the age of twenty-two years, whose gravestone declares 
that "His heart was formed for friendship and society, and 
embraced in its affections his country's good. The mili- 
tary science was his pride, and early he became a member 
of a volunteer companv in Boston, in which he acquitted 
himself with honor." Poor boy ; he was born a few years 
too late, or died a few years too early, to win his laurels "in 
the imminent deadly breach," but we will not begrudge to 
him the modest share of glory that he claimed, and that 
attaches to the position of a private soldier in a Boston 
militia company. 

Timothy Minot was for many years the honored school- 
master of Concord, and in several of those years the Town 
made its annual appropriation for the support of a gram- 
mer school, contingent upon his undertaking the work. 



24 Graves and Worms 

Although never ordained to the ministry, he was licensed 
to prcacli, and often officiated in the pulpit, especially when 
the Rev. Mr. Whiting was temporarily incapacitated. He 
preached occasionally in many of the neighboring towns, 
but there is no evidence that he ever got a call from the 
Lord to take the spiritual guidance of any ot His flocks. 
But he must have been fitted for such a call, for his grave- 
stone assures us that : — 

"He was a preacher of the gospel whose praise was in all 
the churches : a school-master in Concord for many years : 
his actions were governed by the dictates of his conscience ; 
he was a lover of peace ; given to hospitality ; a lover of 
good men; sober, just, temperate; a taithful friend, a good 
neighbour, an excellent husband, a tender, affectionate p 
ent, and a good master." 



nar- 



He must have inherited some of his eminent qualities 
trom his father, James Mi not, Esq. A.M., an exceedingly 
versatile gentleman who "in his time played many parts," 
for we find it recorded on his gravestone that he was : — 

"An excelling grammarian ; enriched with the gift of 
prayer and preaching; a commanding officer; a physician of 
great value ; a great lover of peace as well as of justice ; and 
which was his greatest glory, a gent'n of distinguished 
virtue and goodness, happy in a virtuous posterity ; and, 
living religiously, died comfortably, September 20, 1735, 
aged 83." 

This name of Minot, adorned with so many virtues 
and so much learning, (several others of the family 
having become famous in the learned professions,) has 'dis- 
appeared from Concord, the last male representative of the 
family here having died but a few years ago. The grave- 
stone of Lieutenant Daniel Hoar, great-great-grandfather 



and Epitaphs 



25 



of our friend the late Judge Hoar, always provokes an 
inquiry as the significance of the capital letters M. S. 
at the beginning of the inscription and S. V. at the 
end, which prove an enigma to most people. They stand 
simply for Memori^ Sacer^ (sacred to the memory,) and 
Siste^ Viator (Pause, Traveller); this epitaph, after reciting 
some of the virtues of the worthy gentleman, sums up the 
whole matter, in that terse and epigrammatic manner with 
which we are not wholly unfamiliar in some of his descen- 
dants ; — "Here's the last end of mortal story, — he's dead.'* 
It would be useless, and perhaps tiresome, to quote all 
the striking and characteristic epitaphs to be found in our 
ancient grave-yards, and of which 1 have cited only a few, 
but any notice of our Concord monuments would be 
entirely incomplete without a reference at least to the one 
epitaph more famous than all others, that marks the grave, 
not of a divine, a soldier, a teacher, a philanthropist or a 
man-of-the-world, but that of an African Negro Slave, 
nameless and unknown. You have all read it, but it will 
bear repeating, for while we have other monuments in Con- 
cord that commemorate American Liberty, and National 
Unity, this alone of all the monuments in America, is 
sacred to the still greater principle of individual personal 
freedom : — 

God wills us free ; man wills us slaves. 
I will as God wills ; God's will be done. 

Here lies the body of 
JOHN JACK 
A native of Africa who died 
March 1773, aged about 60 years. 
Tho' born in a land of slavery. 
He was born free. 



26 Graves and Worms 

Tho' he lived in a land of liberty. 

He lived a slave. 

Till by his honest, tho' stolen, labors. 

He acquired the source of slavery. 

Which gave him his freedom ; 

Tho' not long before 

Death, the grand tyrant. 

Gave him his final emancipation. 

And set him on a footing with kings. 

Tho' a slave to vice. 

He practised those virtues 

Without which kings are but slaves. 

The epitaphs of our fore-mothers show a great similarity 
in matter and manner. For instance: — of Mrs. Mary 
Hunt who died in 1790, we read, that "She was loving and 
obedient to her husband, careful for the bodies and souls 
of her children, and for herself chose the good part with 
Mary. She looked well to her own house and meddled 
not with the affairs of others. Piety to God and kindness 
to man seemed as her meat and drink. She eminently 
obtained of men this plaudit *well done, good and faithful,' 
and it is firmly believed her final Judge adds to this 'Enter 
into the joy of your Lord.' Of Mrs. Elizabeth Buttrick, 
the mother of Capt. Jonathan Buttrick's thirteen well 
instructed children, we are told that "she was a gentle- 
women of uncommon prudence, looking well to the affairs 
of her household ; meek and very patient under long sick- 
ness and pain which God was pleased to exercise her 
withal ; a kind industrious wife ; an indulgent mother 
amidst her numerous family of children ; a courteous 
neighbour. Indeed she made the holy scripture the rule 
of her conduct in common and religious life." Mrs. 
Rebecca Barrett, who died in 1838, was "a person of true 



and Epitaphs 2 7 

piety and excellent virtue, exemplary in her religious con- 
versation and conduct ; a diligent instructor and faithful 
guide to her children; kind and charitable to her neigh- 
bours ; truly virtuous and desirable in her life, and much 
lamented at her death." Mrs. Mary Jones who died in 
T782 "was useful in life and hopeful in death. She was 
discreet in her behaviour, prudent in her affairs, an affec- 
tionate and faithful wife, a tender and careful mother, a 
kind and obliging neighbour, compassionate and charitable 
to the poor, an humble and exemplary Christian." Master 
Minot's wife Mary is described as "a person truly of great 
worth ; eminent in piety ; justly amiable for her wisdom, 
modesty, meekness, patience, fidelity and charity : exem- 
plary in the graces and virtues which belong to the Chris- 
tian life." 

These were the feminine qualities that our great-grand- 
fathers loved and praised. They did not want to see their 
wives and daughters acting as preachers, or public speakers, 
or reformers or politicians, but were modestly proud of 
them if they possessed and manifested only the domestic 
virtues and the Christian graces. The women too, poor 
souls, not yet being emancipated, were contented with these 
old fashioned attainments. To them, the domestic circle, 
was the great circle, that bounds the whole sphere. They 
are dead now, and somewhat out of date, — but yet some 
of us may be just a little proud that our great-grand- 
mothers were such as to merit memorials like these that I 
have cited. There is one inscription, however, over the 
grave of a woman, which is decidedly different from the 
rest in the way of expression. It is on a marble slab, 
originally white, in the Hill Burying ground, and reads : — 
"This stone is designed by its durability to perpetuate the 



28 Graves and Worms 

memory, and by its colour to signify the moral character 
of Miss Abigail Dudley, who died June 4, 1812, aged 73." 
Miss Dudley's moral character has long been beyond the 
reach of earthly soil or stain, but it seems to be due to her 
memory that the emblematic stone should be kept clean, 
lest the thoughtless or scoffing observer should be tempted 
to do an injustice to the venerable maiden's reputation. 

Doubtless in many cases our old families buried their 
dead upon their own farms. It is not uncommon in our 
older towns to find family tombs on the homestead places, 
and such tombs along the sides of the highway always have 
a peculiarly lonesome and depressing aspect. I know of 
but one such in Concord, on the old Paul Dudley place, 
and that one has been long disused, and like "The Scipio's 
tomb contains no ashes now." There are however a few 
isolated graves in the town, of victims of the small pox 
epidemic of the fall of 1792. On the right hand side of 
the road to the Junction, on the old Hosmer farm, a few 
rods from the road, is a table tomb, bearing this inscript- 



"In memory of Mrs. Sarah Hosmer, consort of Lieu- 
tenant Benjamin Hosmer, who died of the small pox 
December 28th, 1792, aged 32 years, and their infant 
child. Amiable in life, lamented in death, remote from 
kindred dust, here rest in hope their remains. Contagion 
and humanity, (strange union) assigned this solitary grave. 
Let not the hand of man profane, nor foot of beast disturb, 
this hallowed ground. Traveller, here behold the vanity 
of life, the ruin of man's hope in man, and be wise." 

Poor young wife and mother, — she had been married less 
than a year, and her child was too young to have had a 
name. The story is told that her husband never fully 



and Epitaphs 29 

recovered from the shock of her death, and that when her 
grave-stone was finished he hauled it to the spot on a sled, 
and unyoked his team and drove away, and never after- 
ward visited the spot nor permitted any one to speak of 
setting up the stone. There it lay for nearly forty years 
afterward until the sled rotted away beneath it, and Lieu- 
tenant Hosmer, then eighty-one years old, was gathered to 
his fathers. Then the stone was placed in its proper 
position. Away up in the west part of the town, in the 
edge of the woods, perhaps five hundred" yards from the 
Barrett's Mill road, and about the same distance from the 
Strawberry Hill road, the wanderer is startled by coming 
suddenly upon a lonely gravestone, bearing the name of 
a once prominent citizen of Concord, James Chandler, who 
died of the small-pox in December 1792 aged 78 years. 
The grave is overgrown with briars and shadowed by great 
trees ; almost its only visitors are the birds and the squir- 
rels, but still to the chance human visitor, it gives no 
dreary or painful impression, but instead thereof the feeling 
that here at least is peacefulness and rest, — even oblivion. 
Quite different is the lonely grave on the Fairhaven Road, 
where rests the body of Mrs. Sarah Potter, who died 
during this same epidemic. The desolate little enclosure, 
on the high ground, close to the road, over-run with 
brambles, and poison ivy, and straggling bushes, in the 
full glare of the sun all day, and thrusting, as it were, upon 
your notice, its ghastly and obtrusive grave-stone, is inex- 
pressibly shocking and depressing, and it is really a relief 
to the feelings, when one has climbed over tht wall, to find 
that the inscription, instead of being such as to "Invoke 
the passing tribute of a sigh," provokes, the rather, a 
passing smile by its artless manner of expression, for it 



3© Graves and Worms aud Epitaphs 

informs us, with quite unnecessary particularity, that the 
attack of small-pox that ended the good woman's life, was 
"taken the natural way." 

But it is time to bring to a close these desultory medita- 
tions among the tombs. Who knows but that a century 
or so hence, our own monuments and our own epitaphs 
may be made to serve as material for an idle paper like 
this ? We shall sleep none the less soundly even though 
our "frail memorials" receive as inadequate treatment as I 
have given to these mournful reminders of our predeces- 
sors. I can not perhaps better close than by quoting the 
epitaph of Dr. Joseph Lee, who died at the age of eighty- 
one years, which epitomizes the whole matter in these 
words : — 

"The longest life is short. 
What tho' we wade in wealth, or soar in fame? 
Earth's highest honor ends in 'Here he lies,' 
And 'dust to dust' concludes the noblest song." 



At . . . 

HOSMER'S DRY GOODS STORE 

CONCORD, MASS., 

may be found 

SOUVENIR CHINA, 

CONCORD VIEWS, 



GUIDE BOOKS 



and books by 

CONCORD AUTHORS. 



JOHN C. FRIEND, 




Druggist. 


The Colonial, 




Monument Square, 


Huyler's Candies 


Concord, Massachusetts. 


Souvenir Postal Cards 






WILLIAM E. RAND, 


Photographs, etc. 


Proprietor, 


Concord, - Mass. 





Battle, Apri! 19, 1/75. 

OLD NORTH BRIDGE 
TOURIST STABLE. 

Carriages with competent guides to 

meet all cars on Monument Square, 

the centre of all points of historic 

interest: 

Carriages may be ordered in advance. 

With twenty years' experience col- 
lecting antiques with a local history, I 
have instructed the guides the associ;'- 
tion of the points of interest, which 
gives me an opportunity superior to 
others. 

Antiques of all descriptions, with a 
local history, collected and sold at 
reasonable prices. 

Stable and Antique Rooms, 
Monument St., Concord, Hass. 

J. W. CULL, rianager. 



MGMANU8 BROTHERS 

HACK, LIVERY, BOARDING 
AND SALE STABLE 



Tourists supplied with Vehicles of 
all kinds. 

Barges for parties. Hacks at Depots 

All electric cars, on both roads, pass 
our door, and our carriages also meet 
the electrics in the Public Square. 

Connected by Telephone. 

Mrs. L. E. Brooks, Tourist's Guide 



Concord, - Mass. 

Opposite Pitchburg Depot 



JOHN M. KEYES 

Dealer in 

BICYCLES 

SPORTING GOODS 
AND SUNDRIES 

RINTING, KLPAIRINQ 

AND TEACHING 

When vour Bicycle breaks down, 
}'our Automobile comes to grief, or 
your Electric Lights wont work, John 
M. Keyes will make any kind of re- 
pairs for you ; from blowing up your 
tires to installing a new gasoline motor 
or wiring your house. 

SHOP, AlONUMKNT ST., Telephone 14-S 

OFFICE, HEYWOOD'S BLOCK, MAIN ST., 

CONCORD, MASS. Telephone 28>4 



At 



MISS BUCK'S 



MILLINERY AND 

FANCY GOODS STORE 

may be found 

Unfading Pictures, 

Fans, with Photogravures 
of Places of Historical 
Interest, 

and other Souvenirs of Concord 

Main St. opposite the Bank. 



TWO BOOKS by "Hargaret Sidney.'* 



Old Concord : Her Highways and Byways. Illustrations 
from photographs by A. W. Hosmer of Concord, and L. J. 
Bridgman. 8vo., doth, $2.00. 

"One of the choicest souvenirs of the home and haunts of Emerson, 
Thoieau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts." — Boston Globe. 

'* It is written In a style as delightful and enticing as Stevenson's 
'Edinburgh' or Hare's ' Florence.' " — American Bookseller. 



A Romance of the 
illustrated by 



Little Maid of Concord Town (A). 

American Revolution. One volume, 12 mo. 
Frank T, Merrill. ^1.50. 

Margaret Sidney knows all the stories and legends that cluster 
about the famousNorth Bridge and the days of the Minute Men. As 
the author of the " Five Little Peppers," she knows how to tell Just 
such a story as young people like; as the foundt-r of the flourishing 
society of the Children of the American Revolution, she has the 
knowledge and Inspiration fitting her to tell this charming story of 
the boys and girls of the famous village where vt^s fired the shot 
heard round the world. She has written a delightful historical 
romance that all Americans will enjoy. 



LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, BOSTON, MASS. 



The Publications of the 

Concord 

Antiquarian 

Society 

are from 

^bc patriot ipreee 

Concord Massachusetts 
which also prints 

The Middlesex Patriot (weekly) 
The Erudite (momwy) 
Concordy A Guide 
Concord Authors at Home 

and such other things as its 
customers care to pay for 



^be trown of Concor^ 

. Has published in one volume 
of 500 pages, large 8 vo. 
the complete record of the 



BIRTHS, 
AND 



MARRIAGES 
DEATHS 



from the settlement of the 
Town to the close of the 
year 1850. 

A very limited number 
remain and can be bought 
for 1^5 each. 32 cents for 
posuge, if sent by mail. 

Charles E. Brown, Town Clerk 



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